Padel: 3,200 clubs built in 2024 as racket sport surges in popularity
Over 3,000 padel clubs were built in 2024, according to a report that suggests padel is further surging in popularity.
Around 3,200 clubs were constructed in 2024 along with over 7,000 courts added to the global padel surplus across the last 12 months, according to the Playtomic Global Padel Report 2025. That’s one club every 2.5 hours.
Europe is among a number of high-growth markets for the sport, alongside North America, Asia and the Middle East.
It comes as the sport is pushing on in its bid to become an Olympic discipline, with a Ryder Cup of the sport set to launch in London imminently. Organisations have widely established the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games as a target for entry into the greatest games on earth.
The report claims that there is a 92 per cent return rate for first-timers, while there’s a rise in US interest with Florida, California and Texas driving growth in a nation thus far better known for pickleball.
Padel on the rise
The Lawn Tennis Association states that over 400,000 people played the sport at least once in 2024, up from 15,000 in 2019.
“More than three-quarters of all padel venues are involved in some form of community outreach,” the LTA says.
Playtomic co-founder Pablo Carro said: “With a new club opening every two and a half hours worldwide, padel has finally joined the top table of the world’s sporting elite.
“The highly-anticipated 2025 Playtomic and PWC Global Padel Report highlights just how far padel is expanding and evolving. From emerging hotspots, to player behavior and club performance, these insights are shaping the future of the sport.
“From the rapid momentum the sport is gaining in the United States, to the remarkable social and cultural phenomenon that we’re witnessing in the UK, the Report released today proves that padel’s time within mainstream society has now arrived, and at Playtomic, we are proud to be leading that transformation.”