Two of the UK’s leading sports facility operators – Game4Padel and GOALS – have announced a partnership which will see a nationwide roll out of padel facilities.
Game4Padel, which has the most padel facilities in the UK, and GOALS, a national operator of small-sided football facilities, will kick off the partnership with six outdoor padel courts at the GOALS site in Tolworth, Greater London. The site is also enhancing its football facilities at the same time by constructing an all-weather 11-a-side pitch which will be open in summer 2025.
Planning has also been approved for three covered padel courts to be installed at a second GOALS site in Chingford, Essex, with an imminent opening date. GOALS has a total of 43 sites across the UK, mainly in prime urban locations, and Game4Padel are working with the company to identify further suitable locations for padel.
Game4Padel’s links with football don’t end there. Last Saturday, Brighton and Hove Albion manager Fabian Huerzeler, chief executive Paul Barber, Seagulls legend Bobby Zamora and Sky Sports presenter Jamie Redknapp played at Game4Padel’s new courts at Hove Beach Park.
Sky Sports filmed the match, spoke to the big-name players and showed footage before Brighton’s home match with Manchester City last Saturday. The new courts on the seafront officially open on 2 December.
Game4Padel CEO, Michael Gradon, told The Padel Paper: “It’s important that we promote padel to more than just a tennis and squash-playing audience. We emphasise that padel is a sport for people who play football, rugby and indeed no sport whatsoever. Football is the religion in our country, and saying to people who play football, ‘Padel is for you.’ is something I’m very passionate about.”
Padel’s links with football are well established, with David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Zinedine Zidane, Steph Houghton and Leila Ouahabi just some of the big names to take up the sport in recent years. Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola had courts installed for players from their clubs to use to unwind or bond with other team members off the pitch. Game4Padel has Virgil van Dijk, Jamie Vardy and Dominic Calvert-Lewin as investors.
On the partnership with GOALS, Gradon added: “Padel and five-a-side football have a lot of commonalities – they are both fast paced, a great physical workout, lots of fun and really sociable. We see many five-a-side footballers playing padel at our clubs across the UK already. This partnership is really exciting because of the speed at which we can continue to roll out our top-class facilities to locations all across the country. The GOALS network is extensive and they have an active membership base which we believe will quickly take to padel.”
Ian McDermott, GOALS Managing Director added: “GOALS are delighted to be teaming up with UK’s leading padel company Game4Padel. Speaking from personal experience it is a fantastic game, great fun and can be picked up easily by anyone, previous racket ball experience is not required. Our aim has always been to promote physical and mental well being through sport and by adding padel to our estate, we see this as a great way to expand on this focus.”
