FIP strengthens ties with Padel Asia and Padel America in Doha to drive globalisation of padel and its Olympic pathway mission

The world of professional men’s and women’s padel last week landed in Qatar for one of the leading tournaments of the year – the Qatar Major Premier Padel 2025 – hosted at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha.  On the fringes of the tournament, delivered as always by the Qatar Tennis, Squash, Padel and Badminton Federation (QTF), a meeting was held between the International Padel Federation (FIP) and two key continental federations – Padel Asia and Padel America – to formalise their collaboration and strengthen their efforts in advancing padel’s Olympic inclusion.

Luigi Carraro, FIP President, met together with Tariq Zainal, President of Padel Asia (and also General Secretary of QTF), and Jorge Mañe, President of Padel America (and also FEMEPA, the Mexican Padel Federation) to align strategies and discuss future joint projects seeking to grow professional and amateur men’s, women’s, youth and senior padel across both continents of Asia and the Americas.

Areas of focus of the discussions include improving infrastructure at grassroots level to help the development of new amateur players and local heroes to feed into the professional Premier Padel, CUPRA FIP Tour and FIP Promises circuits; working with established and new promoters across both continents to bring padel to new markets and cities (especially in Asia); and sharing know-how and best practices to raise the bar of tournament delivery to that provided in the Qatar Major and Mexico Major, which are two of the outstanding tournaments of the professional circuit.

Additional elements of the intercontinental collaboration included Padel Asia and Padel America robustly supporting FIP’s new anti-doping programme, recently launched and managed by the International Testing Agency (ITA), aiming to strengthen clean sport, the athlete well-being, and the integrity of professional padel worldwide.

Like many global sports institutions, FIP – the worldwide governing body of padel – is structured into continental federations – so far Padel Europe, Padel America, Padel Asia have been formed – whose mission is to support local federations in the development of padel at all levels.  As of 2025, there are nearly 90 federations affiliated with FIP across the 5 continents, with the sport being played in more than 140 countries around the world and widely-regarded as the fastest growing sport worldwide – with all federations, led by FIP, developing the sport towards Olympic inclusion.