Padel is evolving rapidly, and so are its tools. For the  Malaga International Padel Club Cup , the  AECP  chose to partner with  Pango Sports , a French platform dedicated to player ranking and identity.

 Claude Baigts , president ofAECP, and  Camille Huyghues Despointes , founder of Pango, reflect on the birth of this partnership and their ambitions for European padel.

 A meeting at the Assizes of Padel 

The collaboration between theAECP and Pango was born during the  Assizes of the Padel in Paris A meeting that quickly led to discussions about the needs of the International Club Cup.

For Claude Baigts, the objective was clear: to develop the tools used during the event.

"Padel is evolving rapidly, and so are the tools. For this edition, we wanted to work with modern technologies to enhance the experience of clubs and players on the court."

The AECP was looking in particular for a solution capable of centralizing several aspects of the competition, from sports management to participant tracking.

"Pango provided us with what we needed, both for the player and the organization: a league space designed from start to finish, from the player card to tournament management."

Beyond the technology, it was also the philosophy embodied by Pango that convinced the president of theAECP.

"What I really appreciated about meeting Camille was her vision of padel and the community, her desire to bring the ecosystem together and provide solutions for everyone involved in padel."

 Pango, a digital identity for gamers 

Unlike most apps in the sector, Pango doesn't focus on booking courts. The platform aims to put itself on the side of the player, their skill level, their progression, and the communities they belong to.

“Pango is the player layer of padel: a ranking system, a player identity, and a community, built around a proprietary algorithm, co-developed with university researchers,” explains  Camille Huyghues Despointes .

The project was born two years earlier, during the  Paris Major at Roland-Garros , during a discussion with  Juanjo Gutiérrez , coach of the Spanish national team.

The founder of Pango, who had already worked on several tech projects, then noticed a gap in the ecosystem.

"There were thousands of apps and WhatsApp groups for finding a court or a player to complete a match, but no app that centralized all of a player's padel activities in one place."

Pango was therefore conceived as a unique space in which a practitioner can find their profile, their results, their ranking and their different communities.

 Smoother management for the competition 

During the Malaga International Padel Club Cup, each player will have a  dedicated card , while the results and rankings can be updated in real time.

The AECP will also be able to broadcast competition news directly in the platform's feed.

“For this edition, Pango Sports is offering us a dedicated space: player card, real-time ranking and the possibility of publishing our news on the feed to share this moment with the entire padel community,” explains Claude Baigts.

The change will also be significant on the organizational side. Digital tools will gradually replace the traditional methods used in previous editions.

"Tournament management is now done through the application, rather than the old-fashioned way with our old Excel spreadsheets and paper sheets."

This development was greeted with humor by the man who regularly presents himself as the  "Dinosaur of the Padel » .

"This marks a new era for me. I find it fantastic to always stay on top of new technologies."

 To bring together rather than replace 

Pango does not intend to compete with the booking platforms already used by clubs. Rather, the goal is to create a link between the different environments in which players operate.

"We didn't want to go down the reservation route, because we want to bring the market together, not divide it."

A player can thus join several communities within the same application: their club, their school, their company or even a particular competition.

He can also use a different card depending on the structure he plays in, consult his internal ranking and track his statistics.

"We didn't want to erase the unique features. We wanted everyone to feel at home. It's a real technological challenge."

This approach is already starting to extend beyond traditional clubs. In the fall,  HEC  For example, it will have its own Pango league for all of its students.

 A partnership that is set to continue 

For theAECPThis collaboration is part of a larger project focused on promoting clubs.

"The goal is to continue organizing events within the association in order to promote the club spirit in padel," explains Claude Baigts.

For its part, Pango wants to support more players, clubs and associations in France and across Europe.

"Our ambition is to support players, clubs and associations so that they have a voice within a single padel community."

The Malaga International Padel Club Cup will therefore serve as the first large-scale showcase for this partnership. A real-world test for a solution that aims to make digital technology a tool at the service of players, without losing the connection with the clubs and the life of the court.

Benjamin Dupouy

I discovered padel directly during a tournament, and frankly, I didn't really like it at first. But the second time, it was love at first sight, and since then, I haven't missed a single match. I'm even ready to stay up until 3am to watch a final of Premier Padel !

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