Premier Padel would have more than 50% of World Padel Tour in 2024

Since the beginning of the year, Premier Padel and World Padel Tour have buried the hatchet to find a compromise for 2024. According to many concordant sources, including the very serious Mundo Deportivo and Marca, Qatar Sport Investment could take more 50% of World Padel Tour and thus have a free hand in the organization of the new circuit.

Le World Padel Tour will he disappear? Will it be absorbed by Premier Padel ? And especially the World Padel Tour Does Tour really have a choice?

A bitter failure of the WPT

Damm Group, current owner of the WPT, has reviewed its positions in 2023. The era of refusals, threats and proposals to professional players is over. It must be said that the WPT's last attempt at the end of December to sign professional players after 2023 was a bitter failure.

The start of the season was also very complicated for the WPT with an American tour full of incidents and absent players (gents). The ladies, who join Premier Padel from the next event in Italy, come to close the loop.

The players have clearly shown that they do not want to continue with this current WPT in 2024. Some have already turned away from it, favoring the FIP Tour over the WPT. These players, who were generally found in previas, now prefer FIP Rise, Fip Star or Fip Gold to take points for Premier Padel.

Official: Qatar Sports Investments agrees to open discussions with the World Padel Tour on a possible collaboration

The WPT, a growth accelerator for Premier Padel

The WPT still has great assets for him: experience, a network and links with many organizers. Assets that certainly appeal Premier Padel.

Players and industries in the padel want peace. The boom of padel around the world, the growing interest of television channels forces us to step up the pace in order to offer more visibility, especially for all fans.

On the other hand, questions arise about the “secondary” tournaments organized by the FIP (the FIP Tour). Some professional players are not all convinced by these events. And a complete remodeling of the form of the competitions of padel international events for 2024 cannot be ruled out.

And the FIP in all this?

The International Federation of Padel, despite his work in recent years for the padel, is not unanimous. She often receives criticism from actors in the world of padel who believe that it supports this or that circuit according to the interests of the moment, makes a few communication calls (as recently with the pope), but that it would not really be a decision maker.

Worse, we understand that the Damm group does not want her to interfere in the WPT / Premier Padel. The group would have in memory “the stab that the FIP planted in the back at the end of 2021 to everyone's surprise” focusing Premier Padel, we are told behind the scenes.

It should also be remembered that two members of the FIP, including its president, are part of the board that manages Premier Padel. For the moment, we have not succeeded in obtaining more details despite our requests concerning this possible capital link between the FIP and QSI, as evidenced by this Qatari official document.

And A1 Padel In all of this ?

To speak of the unification of the professional circuits would mean to speak of a rapprochement between the three professional circuits. But for now, A1 Padel would continue its development and work on its side.

We could therefore have in 2024, no longer three circuits, but two professional circuits... unless there is a new surprise before Christmas 2023?

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovers the padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since padel is part of his life. You often see him touring France going to cover the major events of padel French.