Padel was invented in 1969 by Enrique Corcuera in Acapulco, Mexico. The sport spread to Spain in 1974 and Argentina in 1975, then expanded across Europe and Latin America over the following decades. Spain became the global heartland in the 1990s and 2000s; the Premier Padel tour launched in 2022. As of 2026, padel has over 35 million active players worldwide, professional tours spanning 18 countries and is set to debut at the 2026 Asian Games. This guide covers the full history of padel from its origins to the present day. Last updated: April 2026.
Padel started with a problem most of us can relate to: not enough space. In 1969, a Mexican businessman named Enrique Corcuera wanted to build a tennis court at his home in Acapulco. The land was too small.
So he did something different - he built a smaller walled court and adapted the rules to match. That court became the birthplace of a sport now played by 35 million people worldwide.
The journey from one backyard in Mexico to courts on every continent is one of sport’s most unlikely success stories. We have traced it from the beginning.
1969: The First Padel Court in Acapulco
Enrique Corcuera built his court by combining elements of squash and platform tennis. The playing area measured 20 metres by 10 metres, enclosed by walls on all sides, with a net dividing the two halves. He used a solid racket and a slightly depressurised ball. His wife, Viviana, reportedly wrote out the first rules of the game.
Corcuera called it Paddle Corcuera. It spread quickly among friends and neighbours in Acapulco, who found it easier to learn than tennis but just as competitive. Word of the new sport reached beyond Mexico within a few years.
1974: Padel Arrives in Spain
The man who carried padel to Europe was Prince Alfonso de Hohenlohe, a Spanish-Austrian aristocrat with connections across both continents. He visited Corcuera in Mexico in 1974, fell immediately in love with the game, and decided to bring it home. On the Costa del Sol, he built the first two padel courts in Europe at the Marbella Club.
The Marbella Club was a playground for European high society. Padel spread fast through that network. Within months, the sport was being played by the kind of people who could build courts wherever they wanted - and that is exactly what they did.
1975: Argentina Changes Everything
The following year, a wealthy Argentine named Julio Menditteguia discovered padel while visiting Marbella. He took it back to Argentina, where the sport exploded in popularity in a way that even Spain had not seen. Argentina’s climate, culture of racket sports, and enthusiasm for social club life made it a perfect fit.
By the 1980s, Argentina had tens of thousands of padel courts. The country became the sport’s second spiritual home and a powerhouse of competitive padel that remains dominant to this day. Spanish and Argentine players have historically dominated the world rankings.
The 1980s and 1990s: Spain catches up
Spain’s padel growth in the 1980s was remarkable. Courts appeared at tennis clubs, residential developments, and public sports facilities. The Real Federacion Espanola de Padel was founded, and national competitions began to organise what had grown into a mainstream sport.
By the 1990s, padel was mass-market in Spain. It was cheaper than tennis, more sociable, and easier to pick up. Families played together. Offices ran corporate leagues. The sport embedded itself in Spanish daily life in a way that tennis never quite managed.
2000s: International Federation and Global Ambitions
The International Padel Federation (FIP) was founded in 1991, giving the sport a global governing body and a framework for international competition. By the 2000s, FIP had members across Europe, Latin America, and further afield. World Championships brought together national teams. The sport started to be taken seriously as a candidate for future Olympic inclusion.
Italy, Sweden, and France were among the first European countries outside Spain to see significant padel growth. Municipal authorities began building public padel courts. Private operators spotted the commercial opportunity.
2010s: Northern Europe Discovers Padel
The decade from 2010 to 2019 saw padel cross into northern Europe at speed. Countries like the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and the UK had practically no padel infrastructure at the start of the decade and dozens of clubs by the end of it. Investment followed interest. Specialist padel operators, boutique clubs, and indoor padel centres opened across major cities.
The sport’s social nature made it a natural fit for the era. Four players per court, accessible to beginners, and playable year-round with a roof - padel ticked boxes that tennis clubs had struggled to fulfil. Membership waiting lists became common at new venues.
Premier Padel: Professional Padel Goes Global
The creation of the Premier Padel Tour in 2022, backed by the International Padel Federation and with significant investment from Qatar Sports Investments, transformed the professional game. For the first time, the sport had a global professional circuit with serious prize money, television coverage, and recognisable stars.
The 2026 season features 26 tournaments across 18 countries - from Buenos Aires to London, from Qatar to Pretoria, South Africa. That breadth reflects just how far padel has travelled since Acapulco. The London P1 runs in August 2026, marking the British capital’s debut as a Premier Padel host city.
Padel in 2026: The Numbers
As of 2026, padel has more than 35 million active players in over 150 countries. There are an estimated 77,000 courts worldwide (FIP World Padel Report 2025), up from around 30,000 a decade ago. Seventy per cent of those courts are in Europe, with Spain alone accounting for roughly 5 to 5.5 million players.
The FIP has 71 national member federations. The sport is growing fastest in Asia-Pacific and Africa, where investment in courts and coaching infrastructure is accelerating. Conversations about Olympic inclusion continue, with padel widely considered a strong candidate for future Games.
Why Padel Grew So Fast
The story of padel’s growth is partly accidental and partly structural. Corcuera never set out to create a global sport - he just wanted to use his land. But the game he created happened to solve a lot of problems that tennis could not.
A padel court takes up roughly a third of the space of a tennis court. The game is quicker to learn. The walls make rallies longer, which means beginners can enjoy a proper game much sooner. The format is inherently social - four people, two per team, every session.
Those qualities turned out to be exactly what a generation of players wanted. From a single walled court in Acapulco to 77,000 courts worldwide in five decades - padel may be one of the fastest-growing sports in human history.
The Future of Padel
The next chapter of padel history is being written right now, and the signs point to continued rapid growth. Several developments suggest the sport is far from reaching its ceiling.
The push for Olympic inclusion is the biggest marker. The FIP has been lobbying the International Olympic Committee for years, and padel was included as a demonstration sport at multiple international multi-sport events.
Padel was not selected for the LA 2028 or Brisbane 2032 programmes, but a future Games place would represent the single biggest moment in the sport’s history - bringing it to an audience of billions.
Investment is also accelerating. Major sports groups, private equity firms and former tennis stars have poured money into professional padel over the past three years. The Premier Padel Tour now offers prize money that, while still below tennis, is growing fast enough to attract full-time professional players from outside Spain and Argentina.
At grassroots level, the expansion into Asia and Africa is opening entirely new markets. Countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are building courts at pace. Padel’s low barrier to entry - you can rally within your first session - makes it uniquely suited to rapid adoption in regions where racket sports infrastructure is still developing.
From one walled court in Acapulco to 77,000 courts on six continents, padel’s journey has been extraordinary. The sport that started as a backyard experiment is now one of the fastest-growing activities on the planet, and the next decade looks even bigger than the last.
