In his report on the padel, the firm Monitor Deloitte, in collaboration with Playtomic, presents a curve on the development of the padel. We can see where the different countries stand.

Different stages of development of padel

We first observe the countries that have reached maturity. Among them, we obviously find Spain, which is at the top of the curve. On the other side of the Pyrenees, the number of players of padel dismissed exceeded that of tennis players in 2021, which makes padel one of the most practiced sports in Spain. As a result, there are many Spaniards in international competitions, many of which are organized in Spain.

Another mature country is Sweden – it is even on a downhill slope… Over there, nearly 7% of the population plays padel regularly. The Swedish Federation of padel works with several player associations and sponsors to organize its own official professional circuit and create its own national team of padel. In addition to the two leaders on the Scandinavian market, We Are Padel (Leda) and PDL- Padel United, the activity is also supported by many personalities such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic who is opening a new center, the Padel Zenter.

Booming countries

The second group that we find are the booming nations. At their head: Italy, which imposes itself as the locomotive of this group of countries, already invaded by the fever of the padel and with a very large pool of players. These countries benefit in particular from numerous investments allowing them to considerably develop their number of sports grounds. padel (+1800 tracks created in 2022 for our transalpine neighbours). They also benefit from a significant presence of the private sector and above all a certain absence of legal obstacles.

Finally, at the junction between this “boom” phase and the interest phase, we find the countries of the Middle East (Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, etc.) which benefit from many investors who are betting on the padel and thus promote its development. This is felt through the organization of international tournaments and the creation of 1000 tracks over the past two years.

France lagging behind 

Although we have more courts than some of the countries in the previous group, we are only at the start of the incentive phase, according to the Deloitte report. It is certainly the lack of investment which represents an obstacle to the real development of the slopes and therefore of the practice. Surprisingly, France is slightly ahead of the United Kingdom or Germany, which are only at a discovery phase of the padel. Finally, the United States, Japan and India are at the very beginning of this curve and therefore of this phase of discovery. 

thomas jay

After being rocked by tennis for nearly 15 years, I became an absolute fan of its cousin, the padel. For nearly a year now, I've been chasing the little yellow ball with another racquet, but with just as much passion! Based in Lyon, I intend to make you better acquainted with the padel in the region and at the national level.

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