FIP Tour: Is it really necessary to organize women's draws everywhere and all the time? Padel Magazine

This week the FIP Bronze R3 Bullpadel Cup Mol In Belgium, this offers a rather spectacular illustration of a phenomenon that is regularly observed on the international circuit: There is simply no women's tournament organized alongside the men's event.

And Mol is far from being an isolated case.

As the season progresses, some FIP women's tournaments disappear, others bring together a limited number of pairs, and some draws rely largely on local players who have come to complete the entries.

It would be tempting to see this as a French problem or one affecting a few organizers. That would be missing the real issue.

The problem is much more general: the women's circuit still lacks depth.

Mol without a women's tournament: a symbol

Le FIP Bronze from Mol is particularly interesting because it makes the observation immediately visible.

There is indeed an international men's tournament. But not its female equivalent.

This obviously does not mean that the Belgian organizer does not wish to develop women's padel. The issue lies elsewhere: Organising an international competition has a cost, and you still need to have a sufficient number of players willing to travel.

And when we look at the CUPRA FIP Tour week after week, we regularly encounter this problem in different forms.

Sometimes, the women's event does not take place.

Sometimes it exists, but with a reduced table.

Sometimes the number of pairs is sufficient but the sporting density remains limited, with many local players, some of whom are discovering the international level.

The problem is not French, it is European… and probably global

We need to be very clear on this point.

France is not particularly behind.

This observation can be made in many European countries: Today there are far fewer female players than male players who are capable and willing to fully commit to the international circuit.

The difference with men is considerable.

In the men's game, hundreds of players travel across Europe and sometimes the world to try and earn a few FIP points. The competition is so fierce that players who already have an excellent national level can encounter significant difficulties right from the qualifying rounds of an international tournament.

In women, the pyramid is much less deep.

There is an extremely high-performing global elite and a very high level of women's padel. But behind this elite, The number of players involved in a genuine international approach remains more limited.

And this difference can be felt at every level of the circuit.

A calendar that grows faster than the pool of talent?

This is where the policy pursued by the International Federation of Padel deserves to be questioned.

The initial intention is obviously positive: to give women the same competitive opportunities and to support the development of women's padel.

But the international calendar has expanded considerably.

The FIP Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum now offer a huge number of opportunities to play and earn points.

The question is therefore simple: Is the number of players able to supply these tournaments increasing as rapidly as the number of events?

On some weekends, the proliferation of tournaments mechanically disperses a pool of female players that is already smaller than that of men.

And the consequences appear quickly.

Less full charts.

Limited qualifications, or even none at all.

Local players called upon to complete certain competitions.

And sometimes, as in Mol, there are no women's events.

The paradox of Top 50 players

There is also another interesting phenomenon.

Some FIP tournaments manage to attract particularly high-ranking players, especially when members of the world's Top 50 occasionally choose not to participate in a stage. Premier Padel.

For a Bronze or Silver FIP, their presence obviously represents a tremendous opportunity.

It allows the public to see very high-level players and considerably increases the sporting interest of the event.

But it can also highlight One of the main problems with the current women's circuit: the huge gaps in level that can exist within the same draw.

A pair close to the world's Top 50 can thus find themselves facing local players with very little international experience.

This is obviously not their fault. Participating in a FIP and facing such players is actually a particularly enriching experience.

But when these confrontations multiply, they inevitably raise questions about the sporting depth of the picture.

Should the FIP review its strategy?

The question is sensitive, but it deserves to be asked.

Is it really helping women's padel to want to offer women's competitions everywhere and all the time?

The intention is excellent.

The result may be less consistent.

For an organizer, setting up a women's tournament represents additional costs: prize money, courts, refereeing, organization, staff and infrastructure.

When the game is well-stocked and sporty, the investment obviously makes perfect sense.

But when only a few pairs register and the differences in level become very significant, some organizers may legitimately question the model.

Mol's case also shows that a FIP event can now only take place in men.

So why not take this line of thinking further?

What if less could sometimes mean more?

The idea may seem paradoxical, even provocative.

What if the development of women's padel temporarily involved fewer tournaments, but stronger tournaments?

The objective would obviously not be to reduce the place given to women.

Quite the contrary.

This could involve concentrating more available players on certain competitions in order to obtain denser draws.

Imagine, in the same geographical area, three tournaments each hosting 15 or 20 women's pairs.

Wouldn't it be more interesting from a sporting perspective to have two competitions, each bringing together 25 or 30 pairs?

More competition.

Real qualifications.

The first rounds were more consistent.

Greater sporting interest for the public.

And more value also for the players who win points.

The question deserves at least to be asked.

Marnes, in fact, shows that this can work

And this is where the FIP Bronze Marnes constitutes almost a counter-example.

During its first edition at Forest Hill in Marnes-la-Coquette, The women's tournament was a success for a Bronze category competition. .

The organizers had succeeded in attracting a genuine women's field and offering a coherent event alongside the men's tournament.

It would therefore be totally unfair to present Marnes as an illustration of the current difficulties of the circuit.

It's actually quite the opposite.

Marnes shows that a FIP Bronze organizer can succeed in building an attractive women's tournament.

But what's interesting is that even after this successful first edition, the organizers want to go even further.

Adrien Westermann, co-founder of the tournament, then posed a very simple question to the players:

"How can we, on our scale, encourage more female players to join?"

Transportation, accommodation, meals, recovery, travel costs, prize money, schedule…

Rather than assuming that simply creating a tournament is enough to attract players, Marnes seeks to understand what can actually trigger their participation.

And this approach probably deserves to be observed.

Because the real problem may lie elsewhere.

Reducing the number of competitions on a temporary basis would only be a temporary solution in any case.

The real issue is much deeper:

increase the number of competitive female players.

Padel needs more female players, then more national competitors, and finally more players willing to invest time and money to try their luck internationally.

This is a job that starts well before the FIP Tour.

In the clubs.

In padel schools.

In national competitions.

In training.

And in the ability to inspire young girls to make padel a real sporting project.

A question that padel will inevitably have to confront

Women's padel is progressing. Its level at the top has probably never been higher.

Corn (Mais) Elite level and circuit depth are two different things.

And the example of Mol brutally reminds us of this: in August 2026, it is still possible to organize a men's FIP Bronze without a parallel women's tournament.

At the other end of the spectrum, Marnes shows that a women's event can work perfectly well in a FIP Bronze when the conditions are right.

Between the two probably lies the real challenge of the coming years.

Should we continue to multiply tournaments to create supply, hoping that players will follow?

Or should we temporarily better concentrate this offering, provide more support to certain organizers, and work primarily on expanding the pool of participants?

The answer is probably not binary.

But one thing seems certain: To develop women's padel, simply creating more tournaments won't be enough. We now need to succeed in creating more and more players.

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.