FIP European Padel Championships: Cagliari prepares for the big event. Carraro: “This European competition will make history”

Italy is still the protagonist. Thanks to the synergy between the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation and the International Padel Federation, the Italian summer is hot for padel lovers. After the BNL Italy Major Premier Padel in Rome and the Genova Premier Padel P2, now the show puts Cagliari in the spotlight. After the FIP Platinum Sardegna scheduled in these days, the island will host the FIP European Padel Championships 2024, the thirteenth edition of the main competition for European national teams. An event realised with the support of the Region of Sardinia and the Municipality of Cagliari, scheduled from 22 to 27 July. In the spotlight, once again, will be the Cagliari Tennis Club, one of the recognised ‘homes’ of world padel. Sardinia is aiming to offer Italian and foreign fans an unforgettable experience to promote its territory also through sport: Cagliari has believed and invested in padel from the beginning and after hosting numerous international events, ‘the Island of Sport’ is transformed into the ‘Island of Padel’, preparing to embrace great champions from all over Europe.

Luigi Carraro, President of the International Padel Federation: “This is a unique event, which will mark the history of our sport in the years to come. Never before had there been such a wide participation of European countries, so wide that it gave all of us at FIP a moment of extraordinary euphoria, when we realised that due to the number of applications we would even have to revise the format of the FIP European Padel Championships, giving birth to the qualifiers last June in Oslo. The great, enthusiastic participation of the national teams in the international team competitions, from the Seniors and Juniors categories up to these European Championships, certify the great work of the national Federations alongside the FIP, and that is why I will never tire of thanking all those who have contributed over the years to the global success of padel: professional players, seniors, juniors, amateurs, technicians, referees, and managers. It will be played in Cagliari, in the ‘Island of Padel’, an extraordinarily hospitable place, where this sport has written beautiful and historic pages. I want to thank the FITP, which, in addition to maintaining a crucial role on the continental map of our sport, has worked alongside us in recent years to achieve great sporting and popularity results. Special thanks go to the Autonomous Region of Sardinia for the enthusiasm with which it has supported the organisation of these FIP European Padel Championships. Thanks also to the city institutions and all those who love padel and have collaborated in this extraordinary sporting adventure”.

Angelo Binaghi, President of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation: “The European Padel Championships, a crucial appointment in the international season, testify to the great commitment that the FITP, in concert with the International Federation, has been putting into the promotion and development of this discipline for years now. Padel doesn’t stop growing, we continue to believe in its extraordinary potential. We are grateful to the city institutions and, in particular, to the Region of Sardinia for the support it has given to the organisation of the event. Cagliari and Sardinia are places with a high sports vocation, starting with racket sports. And we are convinced that on this occasion, TC Cagliari will once again show standards of efficiency commensurate with the importance of the event and the athletes who will participate”.

THE TOURNAMENT FORMAT The qualifiers played in Oslo over the weekend of 7-9 June awarded the last six places available for the final phase of the FIP European Padel Championships, to which the top ten ranking nations were already directly admitted. Each national team will consist of a minimum of six and a maximum of eight players in both the men’s and women’s competitions. The opening ceremony will be held on 21 July, at the end of which there will be the draw for the group stage, which will start the following day on the eight padel courts set up at TC Cagliari and will end on 24 July (double daily session with competitions starting at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.). The 16 nations will be divided into four groups of four teams: Spain, Italy, France and Sweden, as seeded teams, have already been directly distributed in each of the four groups (A for Spain, B for Italy, C for France, D for Sweden). The top two in each group will compete for positions from first to eighth, while the countries ranked third and fourth will compete for positions from ninth to 16th. On Friday, 26 July, the semifinals will be played, and twenty-four hours later – starting at 10 a.m. – the finals (not only those to award the title but also those to determine all other positions, from third to eighth).

ALL PARTICIPATING NATIONS The tournament will see all the major selections competing. The men’s national teams taking part will be Spain, Italy, France, Sweden, Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Monaco, Croatia, Hungary and Austria. In the women’s category, Spain, Italy, France, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Great Britain, Estonia, Lithuania, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal and Hungary will compete for the title.

THE HISTORY OF THE COMPETITION Italy will host – for the fourth time in the competition’s history – the FIP European Padel Championships. The first Italian edition was held in Lido di Savio (near Ravenna, in Emilia-Romagna) in 1995, and was also the first ever European Championship. Subsequently, the prestigious team tournament returned to Italy in 2005 in Bologna and in 2019 in Rome. In the 12 editions held so far, Spain has been the uncontested ruler with 10 titles won in the men’s and nine in the women’s.

From the first edition in Ravenna to the upcoming 13th edition in Cagliari, the numbers of the FIP European Padel Championships have grown constantly, in terms of Federations involved, spectators and participating athletes. In fact, pre-registrations for the Sardinian tournament have reached record numbers: 30 national teams for the men’s and 21 for the women’s, for a total of 51 participating teams. In the previous edition of the event, held in 2021 in Marbella, Spain, there were 29 teams competing, 16 men’s and 13 women’s. The number of participating teams has therefore almost doubled, showing the exponential growth of the padel in Europe. After all, the ‘Old Continent’ can count on 59% of the more than 30 million players around the world, as highlighted by the FIP World Padel Report 2024.

THE PARTNERS The Cagliari event will be supported by lot of partners: Bullpadel, Official Ball of the FIP, will also dress the ball boys and staff with its collection for the event; CUPRA will be Official Automotive Partner. Official Suppliers include Mejor Set (Official Court), Mondo (Official Turf), and Valmora (Official Water). Finally, L’Unione Sarda will be Media Partner of the event.

Alessandra Todde, President of the Region of Sardinia: “I’m proud that Cagliari is confirmed as one of the European padel capitals and is hosting the 13th edition of the European championships, which represent one of the most eagerly awaited events of the sporting season. Sardinia confirms itself as a region able to host major international events and our goal is to continue in this direction so that our island can continue to grow by attracting talent and thousands of tourists from all over the world”.

Massimo Zedda, Mayor of Cagliari: “We are happy to once again host such an important sporting event in the city: it benefits fans, tourists, accommodation and commercial activities. Sport is culture, tourism, health and sociality, an opportunity for international exchanges and economic ventures. Cagliari will welcome padel and sports champions as it has always done, within a well-equipped and valuable structure such as the Tennis Club, now a reference point for the most prestigious competitions in these disciplines”.

Franco Cuccureddu, Councillor for Tourism, Handicraft and Trade of the Region of Sardinia: “We are happy to be able to host a major sporting event of this level. Sardinia has been characterised by having supported, financed, many sports events in recent years, linking the Sardinia brand to initiatives of many disciplines. Now we must be more selective in identifying those events where there is a precise, measurable, quantifiable economic return. Organising this event is precisely the result of a political choice by this regional administration. We took the opportunity, but we wanted Sardinia to host this thirteenth edition of the European Championships. For the future, I hope that an intervention on the infrastructure level will allow the great champions to be able to see other parts of Sardinia besides Cagliari”.