Focus on…Alicante. In the Comunitat Valenciana padel is a religion

The CUPRA FIP Tour lands for the fourth time in Spain this weekend. And for the third time, with the FIP Promotion of Alicante, it returns to the Comunitat Valenciana, after the FIP Promotion La Cala in Finestrat and the tournament of the same category played in Castellon de la Plana. Alicante, along with Malaga, is the fourth province with the most clubs and facilities where padel can be played after Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia: there are an estimated 190 facilities and 730 courts, in a nation where there are more than 4,200 clubs, 16 thousand courts and over 5 million amateur players.

Last year, by the way, as many as 20 CUPRA FIP Tour tournaments were held in Spain, both men’s and women’s, including five in the Comunitat Valenciana, where padel is one of the most practised sports, with impressive figures: there are, in fact, some 460 facilities and more than 1,800 courts. According to the Federacion de Padel de La Comunitat Valenciana, there are 135 clubs and 590 courts affiliated with the Federación Española de Padel, out of the 1,190 FEP-affiliated clubs throughout the country. The number of registered members in the Comunitat Valenciana, as recorded by the FIP Research & Data Analysis Department, was 7,558 in 2023, out of the 101,326 in the Spanish federation. And from 15 April, in La Nucìa (Alicante), the FIP Seniors World Padel Championships will be played, expanded by the FIP from 16 to 24 participating nations due to the requests from different countries.