President of the PACA League and Vice-President of the FFT in charge of IT and digital, Christophe Demoisson takes a detailed look at the specific features of padel in his region, the rise of the sport, public/private coexistence, and the major technical challenges ahead. A rich interview, conducted during the P2000 in Cabriès.

The PACA League, a pilot region

“The PACA league is one of the four largest French leagues. Padel is growing enormously there, with many private organizations, as well as community clubs getting involved. Christian Collange, who is very active in the region, contributes greatly to this dynamism.

There is true harmony between private structures and FFT clubs. The league supports both, as long as each plays by the licensing system. The goal is not to pit the public and private sectors against each other, but to work together.

Developing padel without sacrificing tennis

“Developing padel in clubs is a good idea, but not at the expense of tennis. Building a padel court on a heavily used court is not desirable. However, it makes perfect sense on more or less abandoned courts.

We must prevent tennis from being "crushed" by the growth of padel. A balance between the two sports is essential in a federal context.”

Private structures are not excluded

“Private structures cannot benefit from federal financial aid, but if they play the FFT license game, then the league gives them access to tools, supports them in organizing tournaments, and relays events via the federal network.

Today, the calendar is saturated. There's a padel tournament every day in PACA, and recreational formats like the P25 are booming.

Padel, a leisure sport… but not only that

“The FFT is now focusing on developing recreational padel. This is where the greatest potential lies. Padel retains what tennis has sometimes lost: conviviality.

This post-match social connection, where we share a drink, where we stay at the club, is fundamental. It's also one of the reasons why padel is so attractive. Tennis can learn from this.”

The Rise of Pickleball and the Battle of the Federations

“Pickleball has joined the FFT, which is currently the federation most committed to its development. But no official federation yet exists. Two candidates have positioned themselves: the French Tennis Federation and the French Badminton Federation.

The decision will be made by the ministry in December 2025, after studying the files.”

IT tools: state of play

“Two main aspects can be distinguished in digital tools:

  1. Administrative management of clubs (via Adhoc): it is now operational. A padel club can manage its licenses, reservations, etc.
  2. Competition management This is where there was a delay. The tools were originally designed for tennis. We had to start from a solid foundation to sustainably integrate disciplines like padel, pickleball, and beach tennis.

The project was extensive but structuring. A complete overhaul was necessary.”

What happens from summer 2025

“Unless there is a further delay, a new feature will arrive during the summer : I'online registration for padel players via TenUp.

A player can register and pay directly online. The referee will automatically retrieve the list of registered players and generate their tables.

A future version will allow complete management of the tables (groups, ranking, eliminations, etc.).”

The tables will be adaptable to padel

“The draw management tools will not be fixed. They will integrate the specificities of padel, such as the ability to reverse certain seeded players via random draws, or to automatically generate formats based on the number of players.

The referee will retain some freedom. It will not be a fully automatic system.”

Unsanctioned and ultra-leisure tournaments: a solution coming soon

“The FFT plans to enable the management of unsanctioned tournaments, such as melee tournaments, family tournaments, or leisure activities. A specific interface is planned to meet this growing demand.

It will not be a multisport platform, but gateways will be possible with other specialized software, to allow, for example, a club to organize a tennis-padel-football day.”

Relations with IT service providers

“Some private companies regret that the FFT wants to internalize everything. Christophe Demoisson clarifies:

It exists three possible ways :

  • Complete outsourcing: not desirable, because of loss of control
  • Internalization: this is the path chosen for the management of federal competitions
  • Cooperation with private companies through APIs and Gateways

The Federation is open to partnerships in areas it does not control, but wishes to retain control of its core business tools.

The FFT's priorities in IT are clear:

  • Allow direct registration and online payment padel players
  • Provide referees with a flexible and comprehensive tool to create competition tables
  • Develop a tool for the long term unsanctioned, ultra-recreational tournaments
  • Maintain mastery of tools, while remaining open to collaborations via APIs”
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.

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