Emblematic figure of Barça and La Roja, uncompromising and charismatic defender, Carles Puyol takes advantage of his retirement from sport to devote himself to padel, a devouring passion that he practices without ever being afraid to push himself to the limit.
Everyone remembers this image: in 2019, victim of its extreme commitment, Puyol had passed through a window, which had earned him some cuts and an awesome Halloween-style shot, which he posted on Instagram.
Passionate proselyte
The former Blaugrana captain is a excellent ambassador of padel. The one who is often seen in the stands of tournaments World Padel Tour takes advantage of its notoriety to play regularly and initiate former footballers. The Catalan has not only had Gerard Piqué as a pivotal teammate, he also had it during an inauguration of a field. Barça had relayed the information, proof that the reformation of the duo, even if it was racket in hand, was an event. Puyol also played hard-fought matches with Xavi Hernández, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.
In 2018, before a Barça-Roma in the Champions League, he invited Francesco Totti to meet the pair Fernando Belasteguin-Pablo Lima nothing less ! We have also seen it share the track with Patrick Kluivert or Arda Turan and we imagine the heated discussions in the Blaugrana locker room with Zlatan Ibrahimovic who developed the practice of padel in Sweden and became the owner of several clubs in his country. During the confinement, we saw him react to an Instagram post from Neymar in action and take note of a future summit clash.
Always at the top physically, Puyol contributes to the popularity of padel, not only in Spain but also at the international level. This tireless warrior never lets himself be beaten on any court, so much so that even the windows do not scare him!

I am a sports journalist based in Barcelona and of course a padel fanatic.
RMC Sports, L'Equipe Magazine, Sport24, Infosport +, BeIN sports and now the icing on the cake: Padel Magazine ! ;)