Final Four is a sports term that is commonly applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament, most notably the NCAA Division I college basketball tournament. Typically it refers to a tournament format where four teams play two rounds of single-elimination games, resulting in a single champion. The term is most often used in the United States and in sports heavily influenced by that country; elsewhere the stage is called the “semi-finals” (which is also used in the U.S.). The term is a registered trademark of the NCAA, so no other US organizations can use the phrase to refer to their tournaments. The oldest and most common use of the term is in reference to the final four teams in the annual NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship and the NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Championship. Each Final Four team is also the regional champion from either the East, South, Midwest or West regions of the tournament.

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