UK padel statistics 2026: players, courts, growth and money
Every key number on British padel in one place — LTA participation figures, court counts, costs, global context and the professional game. Updated as new data lands.
By Padel Roundup · · Updated
This page collects every reliable number on British padel — participation, courts, money and the professional game — with global context and sources for each figure. It exists because the data otherwise lives scattered across LTA press releases, industry reports and paywalled market research. We update it as new figures are released (last update: August 2026). Journalists and researchers are welcome to cite it: link to this page and credit Padel Roundup.
The headline numbers
| Metric | Figure | Source, date |
|---|---|---|
| GB players (annual) | 1,000,000 | LTA, May 2026 |
| GB padel courts | ~1,825 | LTA, May 2026 |
| GB padel venues | 551 | LTA, May 2026 |
| Players per court | ~550 | Derived |
| Participation growth in 2025 | More than doubled | LTA |
| Courts worldwide | 58,334 | Playtomic Global Padel Report 2026 |
| Players worldwide | ~19.4 million | Playtomic GPR 2026 |
Participation: the 65-fold boom
British padel participation, as measured by the LTA (adults and juniors who played at least once in the previous year):
| Year | GB players |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 15,000 |
| 2023 | 129,000 |
| 2024 | 400,000 |
| 2025 | 860,000 |
| 2026 (May) | 1,000,000 |
That is a 65-fold increase in seven years, with participation more than doubling during 2025 alone and the one-million milestone announced in May 2026. For context, that puts padel participation at roughly the level UK squash spent decades building — reached in under a decade.
Two structural details from the LTA’s data are worth knowing. Around two-thirds of British padel players also play tennis, making padel a complement to the existing racket-sport ecosystem rather than a straight substitute. And the sport’s growth is supply-constrained rather than demand-constrained — which brings us to courts.
Courts and venues: the bottleneck
As of the LTA’s May 2026 update, Great Britain has approximately 1,825 courts across 551 venues — up from around 1,000 courts in early 2025 and roughly 500 in 2023. The LTA has also trained over 2,100 coaches through its padel pathways (1,676 through Intro to Padel, 427 through Instructor Core Training).
The key ratio: ~550 players per court. Playtomic’s Global Padel Report classifies the UK (alongside Germany and Ireland) as a “Hotspot” — a market where demand clearly outruns supply. Mature padel nations operate at far lower player-per-court ratios, which is why UK peak-time slots sell out and court prices stay firm.
Government has begun responding: £3 million of public funding was committed in 2026/27 for covered padel and tennis facilities — the first dedicated Westminster money the sport has received. The wider building picture is covered in our piece on the UK court boom.
The money
Playing costs (2026): court hire typically £40–£60 per hour outside London and £45–£80 in the capital; a regular playing habit costs most people £60–£80 a month. Full breakdown here.
Building costs: a single court typically costs in the tens of thousands of pounds (£40,000–£100,000+ installed, depending on canopy and groundwork), with full club builds running to seven figures.
Club economics: court bookings represent about 68% of the average padel club’s revenue globally (Playtomic GPR 2026), which is why operators obsess over filling off-peak court-hours.
Equipment: the global padel racket market is growing at roughly 14% annually on market-research estimates, with UK starter rackets at £40–£100 and premium models at £150–£350.
Global context
Britain’s boom is one chapter of a bigger story. The Global Padel Report 2026 counted 58,334 courts worldwide at the end of 2025 — 7,898 of them built that year — across nearly 20,000 active clubs, serving an estimated 19.4 million players. Projections point to ~91,000 courts by 2028.
The cautionary tales matter too: Sweden, Finland and Chile all overbuilt, with Chile suffering a 27% drop in monthly bookings and over 80 club closures in its correction. The UK, still deeply supply-constrained, is years from that risk — but it is the reason sensible operators here talk about filling courts, not just building them.
The professional game in Britain
2026 was the year professional padel arrived: the London P1 at Olympia (3–9 August) was the first Premier Padel tournament ever staged on British soil, with a 4,000-seat centre court, sell-outs from the quarter-finals, and a five-year hosting deal making it an annual fixture. Our full report is here — including Martina Calvo becoming, at 18, the youngest professional champion in the sport’s history.
Prize money remains modest by tennis standards and unequal by any standard: the London P1’s total pool was €479,068, with men’s champions earning €26,000 each to the women’s €17,000 — a gap of over 50%.
Britain’s playing depth is still emerging: home wildcards at the London P1 all exited in the early rounds, and building competitive British professionals is now the LTA performance programme’s measurable challenge. How the tour works: our guide to professional padel.
Sources
Primary sources for the figures on this page: LTA Padel — 1,000,000 players announcement (May 2026), LTA Padel — 860,000 players and growth figures (March 2026), The Padel Paper — participation doubled in 2025, Playtomic Global Padel Report 2026, LTA — padel court construction guidance, and market research on the padel racket market.
Citing this page: please link to it and credit Padel Roundup. Spotted a newer figure we should include? Get in touch — keeping this page current is the point of it.
Frequently asked questions
How many people play padel in the UK?
One million adults and juniors in Great Britain had played padel in the previous year as of May 2026, according to the LTA — up from 860,000 at the end of 2025 and just 15,000 in 2019.
How many padel courts are there in the UK?
Great Britain had around 1,825 padel courts across 551 venues as of the LTA's May 2026 update. That is roughly one court per 550 players — one of the tightest supply ratios in world padel.
Is padel the fastest-growing sport in the UK?
By participation growth, yes — British padel participation more than doubled during 2025 and has grown roughly 65-fold since 2019, a trajectory no comparable UK sport matches.
How big is padel globally?
Playtomic's Global Padel Report counted 58,334 courts worldwide at the end of 2025, with an estimated 19.4 million players and nearly 20,000 active clubs. Around 91,000 courts are projected by 2028.