“The conflict between the EPA and the FIP: A mess!”

After the press release from the FIP and the confirmation of its European Championship Padel Next November, Philippe Cerfont, the President of the EPA (European Padel Association) returns to all the international subjects after the big padel event in Estoril this weekend: Euroamerica Padel Cup

Where is the EPA?

The EPA is fine, thank you for it and will decline its program announced at the beginning of the year through various events.

The EPA is a continental organization whose mission is to promote padel in Europe and to encourage the dissemination of good practices concerning our sport among its members.

Last week we had in Estoril the Euroamerica Padel Cup, the Ryder Cup of padel where an American team (North & South) faces a European team.

The EPA is funded in a classic way by its members, its sponsors and the various national institutions that support our events.

We have 2 European Padel Championships in the same week… Is that not a problem?

European padel team championships in Italy are played on the same dates as the European padel championships in Portugal from November 3 to 9.

It is sad. And I can confirm that two European Championships will be held the same week, one organized by the FIP, the other by the EPA. The reason is simple. We could not find a collaboration agreement with the FIP.

Why?

What happened is that the FIP, which due to its global structure and its complex political balances, has been slow to give us confirmations on the collaboration protocol that we have been discussing with its president since the beginning of the year.

The EPA decided to move forward and then we fell into a sort of power struggle where the 2 parties could have made concessions ... What they did not do.

I personally think that this is not the end of the world even if it is a little absurd for the public. On the other hand, it's a good chance for France to be on the podium 😉

The reference tournament then, that of the FIP or that of the EPA?

The main tournament to answer your question will be the EPA in Portugal where the best nations will be present and where almost all European countries will play.

We saw a few languages loose ... And say it was a shame all that. What do you think ?

This is clearly a waste and obviously everyone will try to blame the other but be good, the responsibilities are shared.

But in the end, what does FIP do? The organization of the various FIP events since 20 has been mostly entirely delegated to EPA's leading countries such as Spain and Portugal. It is normal that these countries are not too impressed by FIP's limited work force and are thus quite confident in their organizational abilities.

Is the event in Estoril a good launching pad?

This week's event in Estoril proves it's a great success. So to get back to the actions of the FIP, we have seen 2 things since the beginning of the year: the unified ranking with the WPT and a new logo.

I personally welcome these 2 deliverables but for the rest, the FIP has unfortunately used its limited resources and energy to finally sabotage the events of the EPA (which countries are almost all members of the FIP I recall ... 15 on 17, the FIP counting 34 members ..).

What should the FIP do then?

She should focus on the important files which for me are:

- the search for funding to professionalize the institution,

– institutional advancement in order to count padel among the Olympic sports

- and finally the organization of the various world championships

the FIP prefers to work behind the scenes so that some European countries do not join the EPA, to put pressure on the players by threatening non-selection the recalcitrant, to lobby politically with the national institutions etc ... In short, I think this For the moment, the organization is blinded by its obsession with the destruction of other projects than its own (but what is its project?) and this is not desirable for our sport.

It's pretty hard. Can we have an example?

I give you a simple example for the European Championship of FIP logic: Italy and France, a pair well known in the world of tennis, do not wish to join the EPA.

Although the reasons are unclear, everyone does what he wants but the FIP tells us that eventually all FIP countries can participate in the European Championships. But of course the principle that FIP imposes itself is not valid for its continental organization ...

So we are in a dead end that finally the FIP has created itself because its direction is very close to 2 countries in question.

The EPA will therefore continue to develop.

The EPA, like the FIP, is a federation of federations with a geographical reference. I am sometimes amused that the FIP in its last communications talks about the EPA as a private organization.

We are in this regard as private as the FIP and apart from the temporary observer status at GAISF, the FIP is no more official than the EPA. I am very confident in the future because our organization is very action-oriented and results oriented. The motivation of our members is strong and we can count on the support of almost all of our affiliates.

The presidency of the EPA ends in a few months ...

I assume the presidency of the EPA until our general assembly of September 2019, after we will see what the GA wishes. The mandates of the executive committee will be renewed.

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.