The International Padel Federation (FIP) has published a report on the state of the game which asserts that there are now 30 million players and 63,000 courts worldwide.
The World Padel Report was produced by the FIP research and data analysis department after consultation with national federations across five continents. It was presented at the FIP General Assembly in Asunción, Paraguay this week by president Luigi Carraro.
Key findings of the report include the number of countries where padel is now known to be played (130), the number of padel facilities and clubs (20,000) and number of courts (63,000).
Back in 2014, a similar report by the World Padel Tour estimated that there were 12 million players globally, indicating that 18 million people have picked up the game in the last decade.
Of the purported 30 million current players, the FIP report states that 40% are female, 600,000 are affiliated to a national federation, 4,874 have a professional ranking and 1,209 are world-ranked juniors.
As well as plenty of insights into the various levels on the FIP circuit (Premier Padel, CUPRA FIP Tour and FIP Promises), the report breaks down grassroots participation and professional performance by country.
It states that, as of March 2024, the UK had 470 courts at 173 clubs and 200,000 amateur players, giving us a ratio of 426 current players per available court and one court per 144,119 people nationwide.
In the professional game, the UK has 54 male and 34 female FIP-ranked players, including eight and two respectively inside the world’s top 300. As of March, we had three tournament victories by females (one at FIP RISE and two at the lowest FIP Promotion level) and one FIP Promotion title by a male.
You can read the 2024 FIP World Padel Report in full here.
