After being officially recognised by the International University Sports Federation in February 2025, the super popular racket sport kicks off its very first university championship in Spain. 20 student-athletes from the top 500 world ranking will be competing.
It is no coincidence that the Spain is hosting this historic maiden championship, with latest data from the The International Padel Federation (FIP) revealing that an astonishing six million people in the country – that’s 12.7% of the Spanish population – play padel!
And two Spanish players, Arturo Coello and Gemma Triay Pons are currently leading the world rankings!
The FISU World University Championship Padel will be streamed live, allowing fans around the world to follow the event and cheer on their teams.
Click here to watch the action everyday from Centre Court.
Click here to access the content.
Click here to get all the results!
You can find out more information on the event’s official website and on its social media outlets, Instagram and Facebook.
And also on FISU’s social media outlets, Instagram and Facebook.
A few words about the host
Situated in Andalusia, Málaga is one of Spain’s most emblematic cities, renowned for its beaches, Mediterranean cuisine, mild climate, museums and international airport. Nestled between the sea and the mountains, it offers striking landscapes and a vibrant cultural life.
The University of Málaga is a modern public institution founded in 1972, it has over 35,000 students and approximately 2,700 academic staff.
For the 2025/26 academic year, it offers 77 Bachelor´s and Double Bachelor´s degrees, 86 Master´s and Double Master´s degrees, 28 Doctoral programmes, and a range of university specific qualifications.
Teaching is delivered across 19 faculties and schools by academic staff belonging to 71 departments.
The venue
The competition will take place at PSM Fantasy, an exclusive padel club featuring 12 indoor courts distributed across two adjacent buildings. The facilities are designed to offer both high-quality sports infrastructure and a comfortable social environment.
Building 1 houses a central court with seating capacity for 100 spectators, as well as a double-access system that allows for outdoor play when required. In addition, this building contains five further courts.
Building 2 includes a main court along with five additional courts.
Manuel Trujillo from the Padel Championship’s Organising Committee says the university cannot wait for the tournament to start. “At the University of Málaga, we are very proud to host the first edition of the World University Padel Championship for two reasons: first, to help bring to the FISU community a sport that is clearly expanding worldwide, and second, to revive the vision of the University of Malaga as an institution open to the world.”
Get to know the sport better
Padel is super popular amongst the student population and some of the best players in the world are also extremely good academically. You can find a lot of information about the sport and why FISU is really happy to have added it to its sport portfolio here.
Some of padel's impressive scores
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1969
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Padel was invented in 1969 in Puerto de Acapulco, Mexico, by Enrique Corcuera, a tennis enthusiast who not have enough space to build a regular tennis court in his back garden, and therefore decided to make a smaller version.
130
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Today, padel is played in 130 countries across the world, with 30 million amateur players, and 600 000 federated players.
19,800
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A total of 19.800 padel clubs exist worldwide.
71
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There are 71 national federations affiliated to the International Padel Federation.
40 %
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40% of padel players across the globe are female.
59 %
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59% of padel players worldwide play in Europe, followed by 23% in South America.
16,000
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In terms of number of padel courts per country, Spain leads the way with 16,000 courts, followed by 9,050 in Italy and 7,000 in Argentina.
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The participants
125 student-athletes from 20 countries and regions from the Americas, Asia and Europe can’t wait to take part to this very first FISU World University Championship Padel.
A maximum of 32 teams per competition (women pairs, men pairs and mixed pairs) are accepted.
Mixed pairs can be composed by players also competing in the Men and Women pairs tournaments. The delegations will have a maximum composition of 12 athletes (6 men & 6 women) per delegation divided into 2 men´s team, 2 women´s team and 2 mixed teams.
The programme
The matches start at 9h00 (CET) every day from 7-11 July and there are at least four games on each court everyday. As many players also play the mixed tournament, the schedule is constantly changing. Please click here for the most recent version.
Inclusivity on the court
Alongside the main competitions, the Organising Committee and the Palas para Todos Association are inviting all participants to take part to the the 1st Padel “Inclusive Draw” Tournament.
This parallel event, which will run from 9-11 July between 9.00 and 11.00 am brings together university athletes and players with intellectual disabilities to promote integration and equal opportunities through sport.
Please make sure to also follow the semi-finals and finals of the Warsaw 2026 FISU World University Championship Futsal on 6-7 July. They are streamed live on worlduniversity.sport
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