At its recent general assembly the International Padel Federation (FIP) raised its total of countries represented to 71, thanks to the addition of eight: Slovakia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Tunisia and Venezuela.
Slovakia has established national men’s and women’s teams, built its National Padel Centre (with bi-weekly tournaments) in 2021, founded its national association in 2018, will be hosting the Central Europe Padel Tour (CEPT) in September, and will be holding national championships in October.
Montenegro’s padel federation is part of its Ministry of Sport and Youth.
Kosovo founded its national federation in 2021 and has been establishing clubs in its biggest cities.
Luxembourg hopes to double the number of its pádel players by 2025. It held its first national championship last year and will be holding a second edition in September/October.
Kazakhstan established its national federation this past March and is building what the FIP calls a “technical center” in Almaty.
Azerbaijan has recognized the sport of pádel through its Ministry of Youth and Sports and its tennis federation.
Tunisia has recently opened 18 pádel clubs.
And Venezuela, finally, has registered some 2,500 players and has 62 clubs in operation. Its national federation dates to 2019.
In other FIP news, the Promises circuit, for young players, has become a reality, while the Cupra FIP Tour, with its 120 tournaments in 40 countries, has made an even split of its total purses between men and women. There is also a new senior circuit for players who exceed the hoary age of 40.
