FIP JUNIORS EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: IN BUDAPEST FROM 2 TO 7 SEPTEMBER 2024

Europe’s best talents will land in Hungary for the second edition of the FIP continental team tournament dedicated to youth. Carraro: “Events like this one are crucial for the growth of our young players, in Budapest, it will be a journey into the future and talent”

Budapest, Hungary, will host the FIP Juniors European Championships from 2 to 7 September 2024. A continental team tournament that highlights even more the FIP‘s commitment to the future of the discipline at the professional level dedicated to the youngest players, ranging from the international circuit of the FIP itself to continental and intercontinental events. Events designed and organised precisely to encourage technical, competitive, social, and cultural exchange between the young athletes of the various participating countries. The European young players will be enriched, first as individuals and then as athletes: this is the mission of FIP, whose duty is to spread sport’s values, loyalty, and healthy sports principles, as well as to reaffirm its strategic and organisational role alongside the National Federations towards the commitment of nurturing the young talents throughout Europe and worldwide.

Budapest will host the second edition of the FIP Juniors European Championships, following the first one ever held in 2022 in Valencia, Spain: two years ago it was precisely the Spanish hosts who triumphed both at men’s and women’s level, with Portugal and Italy also reaching the men’s podium and Sweden and Italy respectively second and third among women’s teams.

Dragging Spain to the double gold in Valencia were talents such as Pablo Cardona and Claudia Fernandez, now respectively number 38 in the men’s FIP ranking and number 16 in the women’s, with Fernandez also reaching the final of the Ooredoo Qatar Major in Doha with Gemma Triay. In Budapest a national team tournament and a pairs tournament will be played, as in all competitions involving federations – key actors in the strategic mission of the FIP and jointly committed to the development and spread of padel around the world.

“The great international team events dedicated to young athletes – stated FIP President Luigi Carraro – play a crucial role in the growth of our youngsters, a relevance that is mirrored in the purest values of our sport: from the team spirit to sporting loyalty and exchanging the experiences between youngsters from different cultures who, by interacting with each other and comparing themselves on and off the court, cannot but only strengthen their values. Looking at the many FIP tournaments dedicated to young people – whether they are circuit or team tournaments – and our duty to cherish and ‘nurture’ their sporting dreams, I like to think that what we have built for them, for these young athletes, is a kind of ‘Erasmus of talent’, a way to increase the technical, educational, and value experience of those who will be the champions of tomorrow. I especially want to thank the Hungarian Federation and the local and national institutions for enthusiastically embracing the project of hosting this edition of FIP Juniors European Championships.”