Since the 2010s, Qatar has established itself as a central player in world sport. Its influence extends from Football, with the acquisition of the Paris Saint-Germain, Formula 1 visit us at the cycling and even atorganization of the 2022 World Cup. Sport has become a strategic radiation vector for the emirate, a tool of soft diplomacy on an international scale. It is in this logic that its massive investment in a more recent but booming sport is part of today: padel.

Why padel?

Padel has advantages that make it an ideal target for an influence strategy:

  • He is in strong global growth, with over 25 million practitioners in nearly 100 countries.
  • He's media, visually dynamic, easy to understand et accessible to all audiences.
  • He is still young, so unstructured on a global scale, making it easier to quick takeover.

By investing in this sport, Qatar is not just supporting it. It is also seeking to shape governance, rules of the game, communication and image.

A well-orchestrated offensive: the birth of Premier Padel

In 2021, two circuits are competing for the elite of world padel:

  • Le World Padel Tour (WPT), created in 2013, based in Spain, which until then held the monopoly on professional padel.
  • Le APT Padel Tourbecome A1 Padel, founded by Fabrice Pastor, which develops mainly in Latin America.

But 2022, a new structure emerges: Premier Padel, a fully circuit funded by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), also owner of PSG. Officially supported by the International Federation of Padel (FIP), this new circuit offers (well… was supposed to offer, but that’s another debate):

  • Personalized higher financial endowments.
  • A better contractual recognition for gamers.
  • Personalized tournaments organized in prestigious sites : Roland-Garros, Foro Italico (Rome), Doha, Dubai, Buenos Aires…

In less than a year, the best players in the world join the project: Alejandro Galán, Juan Lebrón, Agustín Tapia, Arturo Coello…Result: the WPT loses its appeal and ends up merge with Premier Padel in 2024. , under the leadership of the FIP.

Qatar takes the lead in world padel

With this merger, Qatar takes de facto institutional, commercial and media control of professional padel :

  • He controls the international calendar.
  • He chooses the host cities major events.
  • He supervises the broadcasting rights, Partnerships, the income distribution and regulations.

Padel then becomes a new tool in the Qatar's influence strategy, soft power where sport, image, finance and diplomacy intertwine.

An irreversible change of status

Padel has therefore gone, in the space of a few years, from an emerging sport to a global issue, where image strategy, economic conquest and political projection intersect.

It's no longer just a racket game. It is a lever of international influence. And now, the big decisions around professional padel are no longer taken in Madrid or Buenos Aires... but in Doha .

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