Le Foot5, or more commonly called the Five, and the padel have absolutely nothing to do with it. From two different federations, with different equipment, it's strange to make a comparison, isn't it?

In fact, not so much... These two sports arrived late in France, unlike their big brothers: football and tennis. Very often, they are even forced to live together in the same structures. We find the franchises UrbanSoccer and UrbanPadel, or then the FIVE and 4Padel.

The Five arrived from Great Britain and made its mark in France at the end of the 90s and beginning of 2000. For the padel, sport arrives in the 80s but experienced real growth in the 2010s, and especially, during the Covid period.

For some time now, we have noticed that in clubs, a land of Five can be sacrificed in favor of two lands of padel. Does this mean that the padel is more important in France than the Five? Let's take a closer look at the elements of response that we provide French Football Federation and French Tennis Federation :

Number of plots of land in France

According to the latest figures, there would be 2 tracks of padel In France. For Foot5, there are 1 Five pitches throughout France. In short, this is consistent in terms of space occupation.

1 land of Five is equivalent, to within a few centimeters, to 2 lands of padel. For a Football 5 pitch, the dimensions are around 30-35 m by 18-20 m. For a track of padel, we are at 20 m by 10 m.

If in France there are half as many Five pitches, they occupy the same surface area as the Five slopes. padel.

Number of clubs

As for the clubs, here too, the number of complexes dedicated to Five is much lower than the number of clubs padel. 255 infrastructures for Foot5, almost 800 practice locations for padel.

Sometimes, the two disciplines coexist in the same complex. We think of UrbanSoccer and UrbanPadel, or to FIVE and 4Padel.

Finally, where the padel is a winner compared to his roommate, it's in the big brother's clubs. More and more tennis clubs are incorporating tennis courts into their structure. padel, to meet an ever-increasing demand.

On the other hand, for Five, few football clubs have created, to meet Five's demand, pitches specific to this practice. It’s simple, of the 1 Foot000 pitches, 5% are owned by independents and 60% by networks.

Foot5 x PADEL

Number of practitioners

Here is the first data where the trend is reversing. At padel, there are more or less 500 practitioners, leisure or competitive, throughout France. For Five, there are no less than 000 to 2 million practitioners.

Here again, let's do a little ratio. Au padel, we need 4 players. At Five, 10 players, or 2,5 times more. In short, if we compare the number of players needed to organize a game, there are half as many players. padel than practitioners of Five.

Moreover, if we talk about football and tennis again, in France today there are more players playing football than yellow balls.

Number of licensees

This is where it all balances out in the end. For Foot5, there are around 36 licensees. In the padel, 30 licensees, only for the practice of padel. Because if we add multi-racquet licensees to this number, the total would rise to 123.

What should be remembered from this number is not that there are almost as many licensees in one sport as in the other. What is interesting is to understand for what purpose this or that sport is played.

Obviously, the padel, in addition to being an addictive sport, is a sport where competition is a real driving force. There is not a weekend in France without a tournament – ​​not even for Christmas!

Whereas Five is much more of a leisure sport, a relaxing sport, than a competitive sport.

Le padel : a sport that rhymes with addiction and competition in France!

Moreover, we prefer to use the monthly document of the FFT which records a competitive licensee having participated in at least one tournament of padel official over the last 12 months, we are at almost 60.000.

In short, are these two disciplines in rivalry? Maybe a little bit. But are they made to coexist? Totally!

Gwenaelle Souyri

It was his brother who one day told him to accompany him on a track. padel, since then, Gwenaëlle has never left the court. Except when it comes to going to watch the broadcast of Padel Magazine, World Padel Tour… or Premier Padel…or the French Championships. In short, she is a fan of this sport.

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