The International Padel Federation (FIP) released its World Padel Report 2026 on 14 October 2026, the third edition of its global snapshot of the sport.
The headline comes down to 3 numbers:
- 40 million players
- 91,234 courts
- €8.6 billion in GDP generated by padel.
And France makes the podium: it ranks third in the world for padel spending, at €407.1 million a year, behind Spain and Italy.
“The World Padel Report 2026 once again shows us the picture of a sport in full and continuous expansion.”
Luigi Carraro, FIP President
FIP World Padel Report 2026: Full PDF
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40 Million Players and 20% More Courts
The report comes from the FIP Research and Data Analysis Department, built on surveys of its national federations.
The 40 million players are people who played at least once during the year.
Of those, 27 million play at least once every two weeks.
According to the FIP, 47% of players are women.
Registered players now number 1,110,000 worldwide, up 30.5% in a year.
On the infrastructure side, the count stood at 91,234 courts at the end of August 2026: 13,879 more in ten months.
The FIP projects growth of 20.4% over the full year.
Padel is now played in 191 countries and territories (21 more than in 2025), and the FIP has 100 affiliated federations.
Europe holds 62.5% of the world’s courts, close to 57,000 in total.
€8.6 Billion: What Padel Is Really Worth
The new feature for 2026 is World Padel Impact: an economic study carried out with consultancy OpenEconomics.
It measures five items: court rental, club construction, manufacturers, player equipment and tournaments.
The result: €6.84 billion spent on padel every year, generating €8.6 billion in GDP.
Put simply, every euro spent produces €1.26 of GDP.
The study also puts economic output at €13.07 billion and employment at 235,663 jobs in full-time equivalents.
In France, most of the €407.1 million in spending comes from court rental: €280.1 million.
Padel generates €462.9 million of GDP in France, fourth in the world on this measure, and 6,098 jobs.
France Passes 5,000 Courts, Germany Speeds Up
For the third year running, Europe’s “Big Three” (France, Great Britain, Germany) post the strongest growth in clubs and courts.
France crosses the 5,000-court mark, with around 900 courts built since January 2026 and 277 new clubs.
Its projected growth for the year is 28%.
That pace is slower than its two neighbours, because France already started from a high base.
In 2026, Germany leads the race: Google searches for “padel” there jumped 120%, against 90% in Great Britain and 20% in France.
The pro circuit follows the same curve: 434 FIP tournaments are confirmed in 2026 across 62 countries, up from 290 tournaments in 50 countries in 2025.
To follow padel’s growth in France month by month, the French padel rankings publish the number of registered players and the cut-offs every month.
Source: FIP
