Nearly nine new clubs opened every single day in 2024
En Barcelona, la tercera edición del Padel World Summit reúne esta semana a más de 140 expositores de 30 países en un momento que trasciende la lógica ferial: un deporte nacido en México y perfeccionado en España ha alcanzado tal velocidad de expansión —50.000 pistas, un mercado que triplica su valor en cuatro años— que el mundo de los negocios ya no debate si el pádel perdurará, sino cómo posicionarse dentro de su crecimiento. Es la señal de que una actividad de ocio ha cruzado el umbral hacia infraestructura global.
- Con 3.282 nuevos clubes abiertos solo en 2024 —casi nueve por día—, el pádel crece a un ritmo que obliga a toda su cadena de valor a reorganizarse de forma urgente.
- El salto de 2.000 a 6.000 millones de euros proyectados entre 2022 y 2026 ha desatado una carrera entre fabricantes, constructoras y startups tecnológicas por conquistar un mercado que aún no ha tocado techo.
- España concentra la tensión entre origen y expansión: con 17.300 pistas y el 12,7% de su población practicando el deporte, el país es epicentro pero ya no puede contener un fenómeno que llega desde China, Finlandia y el Reino Unido.
- El summit barcelonés —con su Arena de Innovación, diez pistas en directo y espacios de networking— funciona como sala de negociación donde se reparte el futuro del deporte, contrato a contrato y apretón de manos a apretón de manos.
Barcelona acoge esta semana la tercera edición del Padel World Summit, una cita de tres días que se ha convertido en el escaparate comercial más relevante del deporte. Más de 140 expositores procedentes de 30 países ocupan la Fira Gran Via, con un espacio un 35% mayor que en la edición anterior. La organización conjunta de Fira de Barcelona y el International Padel Cluster refleja algo más que una feria sectorial: es el termómetro de un crecimiento que ya resulta difícil de asimilar.
Las cifras hablan por sí solas. En 2024 se inauguraron 3.282 nuevos clubes en todo el mundo, el número de pistas superó por primera vez las 50.000 —un 17% más que el año anterior— y las proyecciones apuntan a más de 81.000 para 2027. España, cuna del deporte desde que Enrique Corcuera lo inventara en 1969, lidera con 17.300 pistas, 4.500 clubes y 109.040 licencias federativas profesionales registradas en 2024. El 12,7% de la población española ya practica pádel.
El dinero ha seguido a los jugadores. El mercado global pasó de 2.000 millones de euros en 2022 a una proyección de 6.000 millones para 2026, lo que ha atraído a fabricantes de material, constructoras de instalaciones y startups tecnológicas de países tan diversos como Francia, Italia, Finlandia, China o el Reino Unido. Dentro del Pabellón 6, conviven fabricantes de palas y pelotas, empresas de gestión de clubes, innovadores en superficies de pista y una Arena de Innovación con diez pistas en activo donde los expositores demuestran sus productos en tiempo real.
El lema del evento —«Where Padel Meets Business»— resume con precisión el momento: la pregunta ya no es si el pádel sobrevivirá, sino quién sabrá capitalizar su expansión. Barcelona es, esta semana, el lugar donde esa negociación se hace visible.
Barcelona's Fira opened its doors this week to the third edition of the Padel World Summit, a three-day gathering that has become the sport's most significant commercial showcase. From Tuesday through May 28th, more than 140 exhibitors from across 30 countries will occupy the fairgrounds, their booth space expanded by 35 percent from the previous edition. The event, organized jointly by Fira de Barcelona and the International Padel Cluster, reflects something larger than a trade show: it is a marker of a sport in the midst of explosive, almost bewildering growth.
The numbers tell the story with clarity. In 2024 alone, 3,282 new padel clubs opened worldwide—nearly nine per day. The global court count crossed 50,000 for the first time, a 17 percent jump from the year before. Projections suggest that by 2027, the world will have more than 81,000 courts. These are not the growth rates of a niche activity. This is the expansion of something that has moved from curiosity to infrastructure.
Spain, where the sport was invented by Enrique Corcuera in 1969, has become its undisputed center. The country now hosts 17,300 courts spread across 4,500 clubs. More striking still: 12.7 percent of Spain's entire population has taken up the game. Professional federation licenses hit a record 109,040 in 2024, a figure that captures both the sport's reach and its formalization into something economically serious.
The money has followed the players. The global padel market was valued at two billion euros in 2022. By 2026, projections place it at six billion—a tripling in four years. That trajectory has drawn attention from manufacturers, infrastructure companies, and technology startups looking to stake a claim in what appears to be a durable boom. The Barcelona summit's theme—"Where Padel Meets Business"—captures the moment precisely: the sport has matured enough that the conversation is no longer about whether it will last, but how to profit from its expansion.
Inside Hall 6 of the Gran Via venue, visitors will find the full architecture of a modern sports industry. Equipment makers display rackets and balls. Court manufacturers showcase their latest surfaces and structural innovations. Technology companies present software for club management and player experience. There is an Innovation Arena dedicated to startups, professional networking spaces, and ten live courts where companies can demonstrate their products in action. Exhibitors have traveled from France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, and China—a geographic spread that itself signals how thoroughly padel has moved beyond its Spanish origins.
What makes this moment worth marking is not simply that a sport is growing, but that it is growing at a pace that forces the entire ecosystem—from equipment suppliers to real estate developers to software engineers—to reorganize around it. The Barcelona summit is where that reorganization becomes visible. It is where the sport's future gets negotiated, one booth and one handshake at a time.
Citas Notables
The sport is consolidating as the economic engine of a game that continues gaining followers worldwide— Fira de Barcelona and International Padel Cluster organizers
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does a trade show matter? Isn't this just business as usual?
Because it marks the moment when a sport stops being a trend and becomes infrastructure. Fifty thousand courts globally, nine new clubs opening every single day—that's not enthusiasm anymore. That's systemic.
Spain invented padel, but why has it become so dominant there specifically?
Geography helps, but it's also cultural timing. Spain had the courts, the climate, the early adopters. By the time the rest of the world caught on, Spain had already built the ecosystem—the clubs, the players, the federation. They set the standard.
The market tripled in four years. Is that sustainable?
That's the question everyone at the summit is trying to answer. The growth is real—the courts exist, the players exist. But whether it sustains depends on whether padel becomes a permanent part of how people exercise, or whether it's a wave that crests and recedes.
What does a startup do at a padel summit?
They're solving problems the sport didn't have five years ago. How do you manage a club with five thousand members? How do you track player statistics? How do you make the experience frictionless? Those are new problems created by scale.
If I were a real estate developer, why would I care about this summit?
Because padel courts are valuable real estate now. They generate revenue, they attract members, they're more efficient than tennis courts. A developer needs to understand the market, the standards, the competition. That's what the summit teaches you.