How Fast Is Padel Really Growing?

• The fastest-growing sport in the world, padel has over 25 million players across 110 countries.
• Booking a padel court in New York costs up to $200/hour.
• Italy, Sweden, and Belgium are expected to be the “other” padel hubs of Europe.

Padel is easy to learn, fun to play, and can be enjoyed in ever more countries around the globe as court construction seeks to catch up with demand.

To showcase the growth of the sport, we've compiled a list of the top padel stats, from player adoption to the growth of court construction.

Key Padel Statistics

Let's take a look at the figures for 2023.

• There are currently an estimated 40,000 padel courts globally as of 2022 with an expected growth rate of 26% through 2025 (Padel Lands, All For Padel, Local federations).
• Market size: The padel market size is estimated at US$327 million in 2022 and is forecasted to grow at 9.6% through 2027 (Brainy Insights, Business Research Insights).
• Female players make up 37.5% of recreational players (Brainy Insights)
• 54% of padel players are 26 years old and above (Brainy Insights)

“I can’t wait to retire to play padel every day. That’s my goal.”

- Dusan Lajovic, number 40 ranked professional tennis player

"The coaches, we play in our spare time – we love it, we just love the game and play it pretty much all the time.”

-Jürgen Klopp, former manager of Premier League club Liverpool, who played padel to brainstorm football strategies with his coaching staff

How Many Padel Players Are There?

Total Number of Padel Players

There are over 25 million active padel players in over 110 countries (International Federation of Padel [FIP]).

Padel Players by country

Spain and Argentina are the nations with the highest number of padel players with 3.7 million and 2.1 million players, respectively.

Sweden and Italy have grown dramatically to take places 3 and 4 at 563,000 players and 521,000 players, respectively.

Source: Playtomic, International Padel Federation (FIP), International Tennis Federations (ITF), (Argentine Association of Padel [APA])

Padel Players by Gender

Men made up 62.45% of padel players, while women made up 37.55% of total players (Brainy Insights).

Total Number of Padel Courts

There are 40,000 padel courts installed globally in 2022.

Padel Courts by Country

Spain has the highest number of padel courts with over 22,120 known courts. 3,811 of Spain’s courts were built in 2021.

Sweden has second place in the total number of padel courts with 5,740 courts. And Italy sits just behind in third place with 5,340 courts. Both Italy and Sweden have experienced padel court growth of over 300% from 2019 to 2022.

Here are top padel countries by number of padel courts:

  Source: Brainy Insights

Germany, France, and the UK display high growth potential with large populations and limited padel court availability. While in mature markets like Spain, Sweden, and Finland, there are more padel courts than tennis courts.

Argentina has the fourth largest number of padel courts in the world with roughly 4,900 courts (Argentine Association of Padel [APA]).

In Europe, many expect Italy, Sweden, and Belgium to wind up as the most important countries for padel aside from Spain.

Padel Court Growth in Europe

With over 40,000 known padel courts globally in 2022, over 31,401 are located in Europe. The number of padel courts in Europe is expected to grow by 26% annually to 66,908 padel courts in 2025 (Padel Lands, All For Padel, Local federations). Countries with data: Spain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Portugal, Germany, UK, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway.

* Note: Values with asterisks are estimated.

Countries with data: Spain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Portugal, Germany, UK, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway.

The Cost to Play: Padel Court Price

Padel prices vary significantly with the cost of living, the cost of real estate, and court availability vary by city. With just a couple of courts, New York-based Padel Haus is the most expensive court our survey found with the on-peak rate for non-members at $55/player/hour. Several courts are planned and in construction in the city, but it will probably take a lot of clubs to satiate New York’s demand for padel.

The Gulf States are increasingly a padel hub, and Dubai also has high prices with high variability - many courts go for over €100/hour during on-peak times.

Across northern Europe, the prices settle around €40-50/hour for peak times, and in Southern Europe and small cities, the prices can be as low as €10-25/hour for off-peak times.

Padel Market Size

Padel business is booming. The padel market size is currently estimated at US$327 million in 2022 and is forecasted to grow at 9.6% through 2027 (Brainy Insights).

Most of the market is made up of the sales of rackets, shoes, bags, and other accessories.

Padel Tournaments

In 2023, there are 55 major pickleball tournaments held in 24 countries across the top three professional tours: the Premier Padel Tour, the World Padel Tour, and the A1 Padel Tour.

These tours will award €8.25 million in prize money.

The Premier Padel Tour spans 8 tournaments across 7 nations, awarding €3.3 million in prize money. The Premier Padel Tour is men’s only due to a controversial exclusivity contract between the World Padel Tour and the Padel Players Association.

  The 2023 World Padel Tour is composed of 28 tournaments and will disperse €2.95 million in prize money.

The 2023 A1 Padel Tour spans 19 tournaments in 14 countries from February 13 to December 10, 2023. The A1 Padel Tour has roughly €2 million in prize money. The Open category A1 Padel Tour tournaments award €90,000 and the Master’s category tournaments award €110,000.

Below is a full list of the tournaments by country. Spain dominates with a total of 18 tournaments across the three tours. Mexico comes up second with 4 tournaments and Italy third with 3 tournaments.

Pro Padel Players Rankings

Below are the current padel player rankings as reported by the World Padel Tour.

The Top 10 Ranked Players - Men’s

The top 10 ranked men’s padel players as of June 2023 are below.

The Top 10 Ranked Players - Women’s

  The top 10 ranked women’s padel singles players as of June 2023 are below.

   Ranking Player Nationality 

Pro Padel Players Instagram Share of Voice

Below are the top followed professional padel players based on their number of followers on Instagram.

Most Followed Pro Padel Players - Men

Paquito Navarro (528k), Juan Lebrón (423k), and Fernando Belasteguín (386k) top the list of the most followed male padel players on Instagram.

The full top 10 followed male professional padel players as of June 2023 are below.

  Most Followed Pro Padel Players - Women

Beatriz González (232k), Marta Ortega (209k), and Alejandra Salazar (152k) top the list of the most followed female padel players on Instagram.

The full top 10 followed female professional padel players as of June 2023 are below.

  Top Racket Brands Used by Recreational Padel Players

Playtomic surveyed 10,000 players about what brand of racket they played with, and here are the top ten brands.

Babolat topped the list with 16% of padel players playing with Babolat rackets. Bullpadel and Adidas made up second and third places with 13% and 9%, respectively. The market is very diversified, and padel watchers wonder if it will be consolidated as it grows.

Here are the top 10 padel rackets brands used by recreational players.

  Top Padel Brands Ranking on Instagram

Padel FYI researched which padel brands racket they played with, and here are the top ten brands.

Nox topped the list with 272k Instagram followers, about 33% more than the second and third places Bullpadel and Adidas, respectively, with 184k and 183k followers.

Here are the top 10 padel brands based on Instagram followers:

Interest in Padel

As measured by Google, interest in padel has increased 385% over the past 5 years. Much of this growth occurred in the years since the COVID pandemic.

Unsurprisingly, Spain tops the list of nations demonstrating the most interest in padel in the past 12 months. Other European nations round out the list of the top five: Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, and Finland.

Padel Court Dimensions

Padel courts are 20x10 meters, while a tennis court is 36x18 meters. Three padel courts can fit into one tennis court.

A padel net is 92 centimeters at the sides and 88 centimeters in the center, compared with a tennis net height of 106.5 cm at the posts and 91.5 cm in the center.

Conclusion

Hopefully, the facts and figures we’ve shared have helped tell padel’s amazing growth story. Let’s see if padel continues its astounding growth across new geographies, such as Northern Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.

What’s next for padel? Will padel make it into the 2028 Olympics? Will the three major tours combine into one?

Want to learn more?

If you’re interested in getting more in-depth statistics on padel, including historical, age, gender, and market breakdowns, we highly encourage purchasing the latest reports from Brainy Insights, such as the Global Padel Sports Market. We do not receive any commission from purchases of these reports.

FAQs

How many people play padel?

Widely considered the fastest-growing sport in the world, there are over 25 million active padel players in over 110 countries (International Federation of Padel [FIP]). Padel is growing rapidly across most of Europe, especially in Italy, the Nordics, and Belgium.

How much prize money can professional padel players win in 2023?

There is a total of €8.25 million in total prize money to be awarded in 2023 across the three major padel tours: the World Padel Tour, Premier Padel, and the A1 Padel Tour.