Winners, Losers and ____________

If someone wins a match, that person is called a winner.

If someone loses a match, that person is called a loser or runner up.

But if the match is a draw, that is, no one has won or lost, what do you call them then?


There are doubtless, contrary to many comments here, actually several potential answers to this question. However, I only know of one. People who are not winners or losers because they draw are very often called drawers. You may not find a definition of this word in everyday dictionaries because it is formed from a freely productive suffix -er added to the base, the verb draw. Dictionaries - apart from very large ones - cannot afford to include such definitions in their lists because the number of entries would explode.

The football pools in the UK allow people to bet on matches where the punter thinks the teams may draw. Such teams are regularly referred to as DRAWERS. However, the term is much more widely used as can be seen from these quotes:

  • He analyzed the beliefs of voters in pre-election polls about the “winner,” “loser,” or “drawer” of the debate.

  • Conference Paper: Tactical Metrics distinguishing winners, drawers and losers in UEFA Euro 2012

  • Discriminant analysis based on the factor values leads to a correct classification of 64.8% identifying winners, losers and drawers.

  • Is dating really a competition wherby every action leads to winners losers and drawers?

  • Sunderland are the Premier League's master 0-0 drawers this season with five already

There are doubtless more widely used terms out there. I just don't know them. [But I'm not so dumb that I think that because I haven't come across something it doesn't exist ... Harrumph]


The noun dead-heater was used for horse racing in the past. It appears to be listed in the OED, which defines it as: one who runs a dead heat.

  1. ...the horse shall be regarded as having been last in the race, and the other horses shall take positions accordingly, ... is made to one of the dead-heaters, and sustained, the remaining dead-heater shall be deemed (??) to have won the race.
  2. The owner of a dead-heater wins half a race, and it is surely obvious that the backer should win half his bet,...

  3. This race is open to both national and imported three-year-olds, and thus gives a good idea of who is really the best of this age ... runner-up in the Derby in the previous year, and dead-heater with Giuglio in the Gran Premio Nacional

Source: Google Books

Otherwise the OP is pretty much forced to use the verbs; tie, or draw

e.g. The following week a playoff game was played, and the two teams tied, 5 to 5.