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Venues, clubs and academies that use Matchely can open court time in the app — charging for it or for free. You see the venue’s grid, pick a start and a duration and book: for free, when the venue (or your member price) charges nothing; or paying in the app, through Mercado Pago, or at the venue itself, depending on what it accepts. You can split the cost with whoever is playing and cancel under the policy the venue itself publishes — which you read before booking.
Booking requires a Matchely account. The venue’s public page shows the courts and opening hours to any visitor; the Book button lives in the app, for signed-in players, and only at venues that turned booking on.

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Where to book

Open the venue’s page on Matchely (its link, search, or from a competition it published). Under Courts, each court has a Book button. If the venue has not turned online booking on yet, the list of courts and hours stays there for reference only. To find a venue, open Search and tap Courts: you get the venues with courts in the chosen area, with their sports (and the distance, when searching by radius) and badges that say how booking works — Book online (through Matchely) or Book with the venue (the venue has not opened booking in the app yet; contact them directly) — and, when online booking is on, Free, Free for members or Members only. The filters pick the sport, Online booking only and Free now; at venues with online booking the card says how many courts are free now or the next free time today. “Free now” means an empty court at this moment — the venue may require some notice, and then the bookable time starts later. The venue’s page shows the same badges.

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The time grid

1

Day

A strip of dates starting today. How far ahead you can book is up to the venue.
2

Court, sport and duration

The court selector only shows when the venue has more than one court; the sport chips, only on a court that hosts more than one sport. The durations on offer (60, 90, 120 minutes…) are the venue’s choice too.
3

Time

Each cell is a possible start, with the price for the chosen duration — or Free, when the venue does not charge. A dimmed cell has no price or is already taken. If you are a member of the organization, the grid already shows member prices; when that price is zero, the cell says Free for members.
Times are always in the venue’s clock. Booking from another time zone, the grid tells you which zone that is. Some venues open booking to organization members only. Non-members see the grid (so they know when there is a free slot) but cannot book: the screen says Only organization members can book here and links to the organization’s page, where you can request to join.
Book a court screen with the court, day, sport and duration selectors, the member price notice and the time grid with a price in each cellBook a court screen with the court, day, sport and duration selectors, the member price notice and the time grid with a price in each cell

The grid: court, day, sport and duration on top; each cell is a start time with its price. Dimmed cells are taken or unpriced. (Screens are shown in Portuguese.)

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Confirm and pay

Tapping a time opens the confirmation: court, day, start, duration and price, a message to the venue (optional) and the cancellation policy. Read it before booking: that policy is the one that applies to your booking, even if the venue changes theirs later. When the slot is free — the venue does not charge, or you are a member and your member price is zero — there is nothing to pay: the button is Book and the booking is Confirmed right away; if the venue approves each request, the button is Request booking and the booking stays Awaiting the venue until it replies. The cancellation policy still applies, with no money involved: cancelling past the deadline counts as a late cancellation on your record. When there is a price, how you pay depends on the venue — some accept only one way, others let you choose:
  • Online — Pay opens Mercado Pago (Pix or card). While you pay, the time is held for 10 minutes so nobody else can take it. Once paid, the booking becomes Confirmed. If the payment does not finish within the hold, it expires and the time goes back on the grid — nothing is charged. Some venues charge only a deposit online: the confirmation shows how much you pay now and how much at the venue.
  • At the venue — nothing is paid in the app. If the venue approves each request, the button is Request booking: the slot is kept for you, with the status Awaiting the venue, until it approves or declines (you are told either way). If it does not reply by the start time, the request falls. If the venue confirms instantly, the booking is Confirmed right away.
Some venues ask for your CPF or CNPJ to book — the venue decides, and it is what lets them issue an invoice or receipt. When that is the case, the confirmation carries a Tax ID block and says This venue requires your CPF or CNPJ to book. You provide it once: it is kept under Menu → My account → Tax ID and carries over to your next bookings and entries. For a CNPJ, the company name is asked too.
The requirement only exists at a venue charging in reais (BRL), and it applies to whoever pays — including someone paying their own share of a split bill. The venue sees the document masked in the booking detail and can reveal the full value: they are the one issuing the invoice.
On a confirmed booking you get an email with the calendar event — and when there is money to pay at the venue, the confirmation and the reminders say how much. Reminders arrive 24 hours and 2 hours before the match.
Each venue sets how many open bookings you can hold there at once (1 to 10; usually 3): requests awaiting a reply, free bookings and pay-at-the-venue bookings with nothing paid yet, all starting in the future. The limit applies to new free or pay-at-the-venue bookings: to make another one, wait for a reply, play, or cancel one of them. A booking paid online is never blocked, and slots the venue booked for you (such as a fixed weekly slot) do not count.
The court is sold by the venue, into its own Mercado Pago account. Matchely keeps nothing from the booking and does not hold the money: refunds and any settlement are between you and the venue, through the app.

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Book the court together with an invite

When you create a match invite and the chosen place is a venue with online booking, the place card offers Book a court too. You pick the court and the start on the venue’s grid — only the times that fit the invite’s time — and, when the venue takes both ways, how to pay. The court is booked in the same tap that publishes the invite: if someone took the slot in the meantime, nothing is published and the grid reopens so you can pick another. A booking paid online opens the payment right after publishing. For a Now match, the venue books the first free time from now on (respecting the notice it requires), within the next 2 hours. The invite shows the line Court booked · court · time with its status (confirmed, awaiting the venue, payment pending or court cancelled). If the booking falls through, the match stays on — just without the court — and the players who joined are told. If you delete the invite or cancel the match, the booking is cancelled with it, under the venue’s policy; if the invite expires with nobody joining, a booking with nothing paid is released on its own, and one with a payment stays yours (you get a notice to cancel it if you are not playing). While the court is booked, the invite’s time and place cannot be changed — cancel the booking first. Multi-day invites do not book courts.

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Open match: the court is held until the match fills up

At some venues, on a link invite, you do not have to confirm the court straight away: when picking the court, turn on Only confirm the court once the match fills up. The court is held for your match while the spots fill, with nothing paid:
  • with 2 or more players missing, the venue holds the court until 12 hours before the start;
  • with 1 missing, until 4 hours before;
  • when the last spot is filled, the court is confirmed (or, if the venue approves each request, it goes to the venue to approve).
The sheet shows the exact times before you publish. If players are still missing when the deadline passes, the court goes back to the grid on its own and the invite stays open, just without the court — you and whoever joined get a notice. The invite shows Open match · court · venue with its status: Court held until a given time · N spots left, Court confirmed, Awaiting the venue or Court released. The option only shows when the venue accepts open matches and the court is free or paid at the venue — with online payment the court is confirmed right away. Too close to the start, with the spots still missing, the venue would no longer hold the court: then you confirm the court outright or pick another time. An open match does not count towards your open-bookings limit at the venue.

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Waitlist

A taken slot is not a dead end. Tap it on the grid and choose Notify me if it frees up: you join the queue for that slot (the sheet shows how many people are already in it, or your position). If the booking holding the slot falls through, the first person in the queue gets the turn: a notification and an email, and 15 minutes during which the slot is held for them only. Booked it, you leave the queue. Did not book in time, you leave the queue and the turn passes to the next person.
  • Each slot takes up to 10 people in the queue, and you can be in up to 5 queues at once.
  • Your queues show in My matches, under Waitlist, with your position and Leave; on your turn, the card moves to Needs you, with Your turn until a given time and the countdown, and offers Book now.
  • At a venue that approves each request, booking on your turn becomes a request: the venue still confirms it.
  • When the slot starts, the queue ends.

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Review the venue

After you play, Matchely asks How was it? — by notification and on the booking screen. Give 1 to 5 stars and, if you like, a short comment (up to 300 characters). Your rating shows on the venue’s page, with your name, and goes into the average that search shows. You can review up to 14 days after the match, once per booking; deleting the review takes the rating off the page, and you can review again while the window is open. Only whoever made the booking in the app reviews, and only a completed booking: desk bookings, competition bookings and bookings with a no-show recorded cannot be reviewed.

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Add a public court

Played in a square, a park or a council court that is not on Matchely? Add the place as a public court. There are two ways:
  • when creating a match invite, if the place picked on the map is a sports venue, a square, a playground or a school and is not on Matchely yet: Add as a public court;
  • in Search → Courts, under Can’t find it? Add a public court.
You pick the sports and the number of courts, and the place gets a page on Matchely — with no booking: it is for arranging matches and finding players. It shows in court search with the Public · no booking badge, and its page lists Open matches here — the link invites that picked the place. If the place is already on Matchely, you just get the link to its page (and the sports you picked are added to it). Each person adds up to 3 places a day.

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Split the cost

If the venue allows it, turn on Split the cost at confirmation and add 1 to 3 people. Splitting only exists when the whole court is paid online (no deposit and no payment at the venue) — from your network or just by name. The cost is split into equal shares (some courts cap the number of people by capacity). You pay your share now, and that is what confirms the booking. Each guest pays their share through a link of their own. Guests with a Matchely account get a notification as soon as the booking is confirmed; for the others, the booking screen has Copy link next to each name, with a ready-made message. Whoever opens the link sees only what concerns them — court, time and the share amount — and taps Pay my share.
Whoever books is the guarantor. Shares have a deadline, set by the venue (some hours before the start). If any share is still open at the deadline, the balance is charged to you. Nothing is debited on its own: you get a notice and a payment to complete. If the balance is not paid by 2 hours before the start, the booking is cancelled and everyone gets back what they paid, even outside the policy window.

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The booking screen

Every booking has a screen of its own, with the current status (Awaiting payment, Awaiting the venue, Confirmed, Cancelled, Hold expired, Completed, No-show), the place with Open in Maps, who is playing and who has paid, the court total, your message to the venue and the cancellation policy you read. From there you also get Add to calendar, Share and, on a booking still on hold, Finish payment with the hold countdown.
Booking screen: court and venue, Confirmed status, day and time, address with Open in Maps, the list of players and shares with one share open, the court total, the cancellation policy and the calendar, share and cancel buttonsBooking screen: court and venue, Confirmed status, day and time, address with Open in Maps, the list of players and shares with one share open, the court total, the cancellation policy and the calendar, share and cancel buttons

A confirmed booking as the organizer of a split sees it: one share still open, with the guest's link, and the cancellation policy with the amount that would come back now.

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Cancelling

Only whoever booked can cancel. The venue’s policy has up to three bands: up to a certain time before the start, a full refund; some venues still refund a part (a percentage) in a second band, closer to the match; after that, nothing. On a booking paid online, the screen shows the current band and, before you confirm, how much comes back to each person who paid (your share and the guests’). The court goes back on the grid right away, and the refund takes a few days to show up, at the gateway’s pace. If nothing was paid online — a request not yet answered, or a booking to pay at the venue — there is nothing to refund: cancelling just frees the slot.
The venue sees your booking record: how many bookings you kept, the no-shows it recorded (when you did not turn up) and late cancellations — cancelling a confirmed booking after the full-refund deadline. Withdrawing a request the venue has not answered yet does not count as late.
When the venue cancels (rain, maintenance), the amount paid comes back in full, even outside the window — unless you agreed to settle it outside the app. You get a notice with the reason.

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Where the booking lives

  • My matches → Upcoming matches: confirmed bookings, by date, next to your other matches.
  • My matches → Needs you: a booking of yours still awaiting your payment, or a share of yours still open on someone else’s booking.
  • Menu → My account → My payments: every court payment, with its status (paid, refunded) and View booking.

Matches overview

How My matches is organised.

I run a venue

Register courts, prices and turn booking on.