Luigi Carraro re-elected unanimously as president of FIP: “Thank you for your trust; great challenges await us and we will conquer them together”
October 28, 2024
Luigi Carraro has been unanimously re-elected as President of the International Padel Federation by the 34th FIP General Assembly, which convened at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Doha during the FIP World Padel Championships. This decision represents a “natural” choice of continuity, reflecting the work accomplished by Carraro, his team, and various stakeholders in the padel world — starting with national federations — toward extraordinary global growth. Carraro reviewed these accomplishments and results during the assembly.
This momentum now includes a new goal: the Olympics, with the aim of introducing padel to the Olympic Games. Upon his unanimous re-election — endorsed by 85% of the assembly members — Carraro expressed his gratitude, stating, “Your trust honors and moves me. Feeling it here, in person, from each of you, serves as even more motivation to build the future of padel, just as we have done so far, together”.
Carraro introduced remarks from the Qatar Tennis Federation (QTF) Secretary General Tariq Darwish Zainal and Premier Padel CEO David Sugden. After expressing gratitude to QTF President Nasser Al-Khelaifi – “Every time padel hosts a major event in Qatar, it marks a turning point for our sport, and for that, I thank him“, emphasized the head of the FIP – Carraro highlighted the sensational growth of padel, announcing new developments that gained the Assembly’s approval: a World Championship for pairs, training courses for coaches and referees, a new Sports Justice Code, and an updated Ethical Code. Additionally, six new federations — Andorra, Cyprus, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Romania, and Jordan — were officially welcomed. The assembly also elected a new Board, while the ‘Olympics Project’ Advisor will be Santiago Brito, President of the Argentine Federation. French player Benjamin Tison will lead the Athletes’ Commission.
THE BOARD. The newly elected FIP Board members include Eduardo Da Silva Langer (Brazil), Jorge Mañe (Mexico), Ramon Morcillo (Spain), Koji Nakatsuka (Japan), Fabian Parolin (Chile), and Roberto Pellegrini (Italy).
PADEL ASIA. Carraro also announced the creation of “Padel Asia“, chaired by QTF Secretary General Tariq Darwish Zainal, after confirming Ramon Morcillo as President of Padel Europe and Jorge Mañe as President of Padel America.
FEDERATIONS AND ‘EXPANSION’ “Working side by side with national federations is one of the cornerstones of my presidency and an essential factor in achieving our results and future objectives,” Carraro emphasized. “Note how the growth of FIP member federations — including countries that initially had only a modest number of courts — has paralleled padel’s global expansion. From 2019 until today, the number of federations has nearly tripled: from 32 to 87 nations, with today’s additions. And we’re not stopping here; we want the number of affiliated federations to keep rising, as padel is now played in 150 countries“, Carraro explained.
GLOBAL PHENOMENON, PLAYERS AND THE ‘FIFTH MAJOR’. “Since 2018, when there was only one primarily localized circuit, padel has transformed into a global phenomenon. Today“, Carraro continued in his address to the national federations, “we have two major world circuits, Premier Padel and CUPRA FIP Tour; a Promises circuit, which is a true ‘nursery of talent’; and a World Championship here in Doha that reflects unprecedented interest in participation, with elimination rounds played worldwide. We have also introduced the FIP Ranking, now with 6,300 professionals, and the annual Race, leading to the FIP Finals. Moreover, from next year, we will host a World Championship for pairs that will alternate annually with the team World Championship, which we can consider FIP’s fifth Major“. Carraro also announced French player Benjamin Tison as the new president of the Players’ Commission.
THE CIRCUIT BOOM: FROM PROMISES TO PREMIER PADEL. “The FIP Promises circuit, reserved for the NextGen, has grown from 6 tournaments to 74 in just three years, with a target of 200 events by 2025. The CUPRA FIP Tour expanded from 6 events in 2019 to 195 today, and with the reform, we will have four defined categories: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, along with the Finals. Premier Padel, in just two years, has grown from 8 tournaments in 2022 to 24 events across 16 countries in 2024, including the Finals“, Carraro noted.
RECORD-BREAKING TEAM EVENTS. “Continental and world tournaments continue to set records. For instance, the recent European Championships registered 51 teams in both men’s and women’s categories, including qualifiers, compared to just 26 in 2017. We’re also breaking records in junior and senior world and continental competitions“, explained Carraro.
A GLOBAL ORGANIZATION. “Padel is now played in 150 countries by 30 million players. In 2018, it was just 50 countries, with 8 million players mainly concentrated in a few nations. Before 2018, 85% of courts were in Spain and Argentina, to which we give due credit, but today 65% of courts are spread worldwide. This global expansion is an increasing engine for us. Since the beginning of my presidency, courts have tripled, reaching 66.000 globally, and every time someone picks up a racket for the first time, it’s a celebration for us all. I want to thank each of you,” Carraro told the federation presidents, “for the passion and commitment you bring, turning these values into fuel for that engine I mentioned earlier. In this spirit, we contributed to creating Padel Europe, Padel America, and Padel Asia — continental entities that will refine and expand our sport’s development“, Carraro stated in announcing Padel Asia.
OLYMPIC PROJECT. Before discussing the Olympic Games goal, Carraro announced that “the Argentine Federation President, Santiago Brito, has accepted the role of FIP Advisor for our Olympic project, and we are delighted“. He shared his vision with the Assembly: “Every morning, we wake up with the hope that the padel racket might one day be united with the five Olympic rings. We work toward this with the seriousness, concreteness, and respect that this ambition demands. Every sports person, whether an athlete or an executive, dreams of the Olympics, and we pursue this dream step by step, optimistic but realistic. In the last two years, padel has been showcased at the South American Games in Asunción in 2022, the European Games in Kraków, the Gymnasiad in Bahrain, and it will feature at the Panamerican Junior Games in 2025 and the Mediterranean Games in Italy in 2026. These events bring us closer to our ultimate dream”.
PROFESSIONALISM AND STANDARDS. “Making padel increasingly professional is one of the most thrilling and challenging goals. With courses for coaches and referees, our path is clear, as is the introduction of the new Disciplinary Code and Ethical Code, which define, transparently and definitively, our responsibilities on and off the court“.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT. “Here, the numbers are impressive. In the first ten months of 2024 alone, we recorded 40 million page views on the FIP website and 2.6 million unique users; our Instagram followers grew from 2.000 in 2018 to 251.000 today, with similar rapid growth across other social media platforms. We now also have a unique tool to spotlight the padel phenomenon worldwide, our World Padel Report“.
THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN DOHA. “The FIP World Padel Championships represent another leap forward; Qatar and its federation have been instrumental in transforming padel from a sport played in a few countries to a truly global one. Every major event here opens exciting new horizons for our discipline, and I have no doubt it will do so again this time“, concluded Carraro.
