diff --git a/multiplayer-todo.md b/multiplayer-todo.md
index 1a8035c5..0cb392b8 100644
--- a/multiplayer-todo.md
+++ b/multiplayer-todo.md
@@ -1193,7 +1193,7 @@ the local/CI/community transport, not a silent production fallback.
 |---|---|---|
 | 8.14 `[D:8.4,8.5,8.8]` | One durable PostgreSQL queue owner/player plus Redis candidate index: 10 s heartbeat, 30 s expiry, retry-safe create/cancel/resume and repair after cache loss | Replicas/duplicates never place a player twice; failover may delay/rematerialise an index but durable ownership and active-participation fences converge |
 | 8.15 `[D:7.8,8.3]` | Submit opaque Steam ping location plus nonce-bound probes; backend computes estimates, enforces 30 s freshness and quarantines 3 discrepancies >25 ms or 30% until 5 clean matches | A client cannot directly choose its placement RTT; stale/forged evidence is rejected; quarantine behavior and server-observed comparison are deterministic |
-| 8.16 `[D:8.14,8.15]` | **IN PROGRESS.** Pure Go candidate selection implements the <=100 ms ceiling, pairwise widening tolerance, anchor inclusion and deterministic set/region scoring | `server/domain/matcher.go` and adversarial fixtures cover no-common-region, tolerance boundaries and lexical ties; team partitioning, queue-backed candidate loading and full population fixtures remain |
+| 8.16 `[D:8.14,8.15]` | **IN PROGRESS.** Pure Go candidate/team selection implements the <=100 ms ceiling, pairwise widening tolerance, anchor inclusion, deterministic set/region scoring and balanced team partitioning | `server/domain/matcher.go`, `teams.go` and adversarial fixtures cover no-common-region, tolerance boundaries, lexical ties, mean-rating balance and input-order independence; queue-backed candidate loading and full population fixtures remain |
 | 8.17 `[D:8.14,8.16]` | Ten-second proposal to **every selected human**: ranked 6; casual largest compatible 6→2 after 60 s with disclosed teams/bots; apply exact decline/timeout/no-show cooldown and queue-precedence rules | Allocation starts only after selected humans accept; 2–5-human casual is reachable; accepter timestamps restore exactly; ranked pre-match no-show has cooldown but no rating loss |
 | 8.18 `[D:8.5,8.14,8.17]` | Horizontally replicated matcher: Redis candidates, then PostgreSQL serializable proposal/participant fence, then cache cleanup/repair | Forced loss of the last acknowledged Redis write, retries, worker death and failover cannot claim a player into two proposals/matches |
 | 8.19 `[D:8.18]` | Casual policy: proposal composition above; >=1 human/team, exhaustive rating-balanced teams, bots after 60 s, opt-in kickoff-only backfill, 30 s reconnect and defined backfill/casual penalties | Every 2–6-human shape is tested; no mid-play replacement; declined/backfill participant gets no excluded rating/cooldown; original leaver gets only documented outcome/cooldown |
diff --git a/server/domain/teams.go b/server/domain/teams.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8e59fdad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/domain/teams.go
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+package domain
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"sort"
+)
+
+type Teams struct {
+	Team0 []Candidate
+	Team1 []Candidate
+}
+
+// PartitionTeams exhaustively evaluates balanced two-team assignments. The
+// first team is anchored to the lexically smallest player to remove the
+// equivalent team-0/team-1 mirror; this makes the result stable across worker
+// order and database row order.
+func PartitionTeams(players []Candidate) (Teams, error) {
+	if len(players) < 2 || len(players) > 6 || len(players)%2 != 0 {
+		return Teams{}, fmt.Errorf("team partition requires an even player count from 2 through 6")
+	}
+	ordered := append([]Candidate(nil), players...)
+	sort.Slice(ordered, func(i, j int) bool { return ordered[i].PlayerID < ordered[j].PlayerID })
+	teamSize := len(ordered) / 2
+	anchor := ordered[0].PlayerID
+	best := Teams{}
+	found := false
+	chosen := make([]Candidate, 0, teamSize)
+	var visit func(int)
+	visit = func(start int) {
+		if len(chosen) == teamSize {
+			if !containsPlayer(chosen, anchor) { return }
+			team1 := make([]Candidate, 0, teamSize)
+			for _, player := range ordered {
+				if !containsPlayer(chosen, player.PlayerID) { team1 = append(team1, player) }
+			}
+			if !found || betterTeams(chosen, team1, best) {
+				best = Teams{Team0: append([]Candidate(nil), chosen...), Team1: team1}
+				found = true
+			}
+			return
+		}
+		for i := start; i < len(ordered); i++ {
+			chosen = append(chosen, ordered[i])
+			visit(i + 1)
+			chosen = chosen[:len(chosen)-1]
+		}
+	}
+	visit(0)
+	if !found { return Teams{}, fmt.Errorf("no balanced team partition") }
+	return best, nil
+}
+
+func betterTeams(team0, team1 []Candidate, best Teams) bool {
+	if best.Team0 == nil { return true }
+	meanDelta, maxOpposing := teamScore(team0, team1)
+	bestMean, bestMaxOpposing := teamScore(best.Team0, best.Team1)
+	if meanDelta != bestMean { return meanDelta < bestMean }
+	if maxOpposing != bestMaxOpposing { return maxOpposing < bestMaxOpposing }
+	return playerIDs(team0) < playerIDs(best.Team0)
+}
+
+func teamScore(team0, team1 []Candidate) (float64, float64) {
+	mean0, mean1 := meanRating(team0), meanRating(team1)
+	maxOpposing := 0.0
+	for _, left := range team0 {
+		for _, right := range team1 {
+			delta := abs(left.Rating - right.Rating)
+			if delta > maxOpposing { maxOpposing = delta }
+		}
+	}
+	return abs(mean0 - mean1), maxOpposing
+}
+
+func meanRating(players []Candidate) float64 {
+	total := 0.0
+	for _, player := range players { total += player.Rating }
+	return total / float64(len(players))
+}
+
+func containsPlayer(players []Candidate, playerID string) bool {
+	for _, player := range players { if player.PlayerID == playerID { return true } }
+	return false
+}
+
+func playerIDs(players []Candidate) string {
+	ids := make([]string, 0, len(players))
+	for _, player := range players { ids = append(ids, player.PlayerID) }
+	sort.Strings(ids)
+	result := ""
+	for _, id := range ids { result += id + "\x00" }
+	return result
+}
diff --git a/server/domain/teams_test.go b/server/domain/teams_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a814d689
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/domain/teams_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package domain
+
+import "testing"
+
+func TestPartitionTeamsBalancesMeanRatingBeforeOpposingSpread(t *testing.T) {
+	players := []Candidate{
+		{PlayerID: "a", Rating: 1000}, {PlayerID: "b", Rating: 1100},
+		{PlayerID: "c", Rating: 1900}, {PlayerID: "d", Rating: 2000},
+	}
+	teams, err := PartitionTeams(players)
+	if err != nil { t.Fatal(err) }
+	if playerIDs(teams.Team0) != "a\x00d\x00" || playerIDs(teams.Team1) != "b\x00c\x00" {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected balanced partition: team0=%q team1=%q", playerIDs(teams.Team0), playerIDs(teams.Team1))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPartitionTeamsIsIndependentOfInputOrder(t *testing.T) {
+	players := []Candidate{
+		{PlayerID: "d", Rating: 1500}, {PlayerID: "b", Rating: 1500},
+		{PlayerID: "c", Rating: 1500}, {PlayerID: "a", Rating: 1500},
+	}
+	first, err := PartitionTeams(players)
+	if err != nil { t.Fatal(err) }
+	second, err := PartitionTeams([]Candidate{players[2], players[0], players[3], players[1]})
+	if err != nil { t.Fatal(err) }
+	if playerIDs(first.Team0) != playerIDs(second.Team0) || playerIDs(first.Team1) != playerIDs(second.Team1) {
+		t.Fatalf("input order changed partition: first=%q/%q second=%q/%q", playerIDs(first.Team0), playerIDs(first.Team1), playerIDs(second.Team0), playerIDs(second.Team1))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPartitionTeamsRejectsUnsupportedShapes(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, count := range []int{0, 1, 3, 7} {
+		players := make([]Candidate, count)
+		if _, err := PartitionTeams(players); err == nil { t.Fatalf("accepted %d players", count) }
+	}
+}