Mediterranean Games: behind Taranto, padel is mainly pursuing its Olympic dream and claims 38 million players

Padel reached a new stage in its international development in Taranto. For the first time, the sport was officially included in the program of the Mediterranean Games with medals awarded in the men's, women's, and mixed categories. But behind this historic first lies a much broader objective: Gradually bringing padel closer to the Olympic Games .

As we take stock of this edition, Luigi Carraro , President of the International Federation of PadelMoreover, he no longer hides it.

"The dream, and at the same time the great objective of the entire international padel family, is to reach the Olympic Games," he explained in an interview with the Italian news agency ANSA.

88 players and 18 nations in Taranto

For its Mediterranean debut, padel brought together 88 athletes representing 18 countries at the Parco Mediterraneo Salinella in Taranto. A diversity that is particularly important for the FIP, which seeks to demonstrate that the discipline now extends far beyond its historical Spanish-Argentine core.

Spain, Italy, Portugal and France were obviously very well represented, but the tournament also welcomed representatives from countries such as Egypt, Croatia, Turkey, Morocco, and Cyprus .

On the sporting front, the level was also high, with several players who are regulars on the international circuit, in particular Lucía Sainz, Patty Llaguno, Sofia Araújo, José Antonio Diestro, David Gala or the brothers Nuno and Miguel Deus .

“Seeing athletes from different countries, speaking different languages and representing different traditions, sharing the track and the same values is one of the strongest images that sport can offer,” emphasizes Luigi Carraro.

38 million practitioners claimed by the FIP

To support this internationalization, the president of the FIP puts forward some particularly impressive figures: approximately 38 million participants, 85,000 tracks and 27,000 clubs spread across 178 countries and territories .

Data that illustrates the global explosion of padel, but also serves another purpose: to demonstrate that the discipline now has a sufficiently wide presence to claim an ever more important place in the international sporting movement.

Because the FIP's strategy is clear: multiply experiences in multisport competitions .

From Krakow to Taranto, a strategy that is taking shape

The process had notably taken on a new dimension in the European Games in Krakow in 2023 where padel had already been offered as a medal-winning sport. The experience will be repeated during the European Games in Istanbul in 2027 .

But the movement now extends far beyond Europe.

In 2026, padel is also on the program for Santa Fe South American Games , Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and Asian Indoor Games and Martial Arts in Riyadh .

Taranto is therefore part of a series of events that are far from insignificant. The FIP is seeking to gradually establish padel within the landscape of major continental and multi-sport competitions.

"Our presence at the European Games, the Mediterranean Games, the South American Games, the Asian Games, the African Games and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games demonstrates how solid and concrete our progress within the international multisport movement has become," Carraro believes.

The Olympic Games as the ultimate goal

Of course, the last step remains, and by far the most difficult: Olympic Games .

The dramatic increase in the number of players is one argument. The internationalization of competitions is another. But the repeated presence of padel in multi-sport events now appears to be one of the main levers used by the FIP to strengthen the credibility of its Olympic bid.

Luigi Carraro summarizes the roadmap as follows: "Each new country, each new athlete, each track and each participation in a multi-sport event represents a step in this direction."

Padel is therefore not yet an Olympic sport. But Krakow, Taranto, Santa Fe, Aichi-Nagoya, Riyadh then Istanbul now tell the same story: that of a discipline that methodically seeks to get closer to the five rings.

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.