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Padel now has an official day of its own. The International Padel Federation (FIP) and Premier Padel have formally recognised 20 October as World Padel Day, giving official status to a date the padel community had already been celebrating informally. The federation used the announcement to renew its push for a place at the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.
The choice of date is a nod to the court itself. Written as 20/10, it matches the size of a padel court: 20 metres long and 10 metres wide. That simple link between the date and the court is a large part of why 20 October had already caught on with clubs and players around the world before the FIP made it official.
The numbers behind the Olympic pitch
The FIP based its case on the World Padel Report 2026. It estimates that there are around 40 million amateur players in 191 countries and territories across all five continents. Women make up 47% of participants, a gender balance the federation sees as one of its strongest arguments. The report counts more than 91,000 courts worldwide, and the FIP now has 115 national federations.
The economic figures are just as large. According to OpenEconomics research cited by the FIP, padel is expected to add €8.6 billion to global GDP in 2026 and support about 236,000 full-time equivalent jobs.
The federation also points to the structure it has built from juniors to professionals. FIP Promises, its youth development programme, runs in 36 countries. The CUPRA FIP Tour visits 59 countries. The Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour is broadcast in 244 territories on six continents.
Carraro: "a sport people can continue playing"
FIP President Luigi Carraro made Brisbane the main theme of the day. "Padel can bring Brisbane 2032 a global community, exciting competition for women and men, and a sport that people can discover and continue playing long after the Games," he said.
The FIP's pitch to Olympic organisers is based on practical points as well as numbers. Padel uses a small court, needs relatively little permanent infrastructure and gives men's and women's events equal billing. To show how this can work, the federation pointed to the Padel Invitational held at the Sydney Opera House on 15–16 August. That event showed how temporary courts can turn a famous landmark into a padel venue, which is a useful example for Australia ahead of 2032.
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Still a long road to the Olympics
Padel is not yet on the Brisbane 2032 programme. The FIP's argument rests on the multi-sport events it has already joined: padel was played at the 2023 European Games and appeared at the South American, Mediterranean and Asian Games in 2026. Each one helps show that the sport can fit into a large multi-sport event.
The national federations used the occasion too. In Britain, the Lawn Tennis Association timed new participation figures for World Padel Day. It reported 1.5 million players on 2,445 courts at 682 venues, a striking jump from about 15,000 players in 2019.
Official recognition gives the sport a fixed date each year to show its size to sponsors, governments and the International Olympic Committee. The professional tour heads straight into one of its biggest events. The Premier Padel Kuwait Major, the only Major in Asia and the Gulf this season, takes place from 26 to 31 October at The Arena Kuwait and the Rafa Nadal Academy, with 2,000 ranking points available.
