The History of Padel: From Acapulco in 1969 to the Modern Game

Padel history timeline

The dates below follow the sequence FIP sets out in its own account of the sport’s development, with the professional circuits dated from the tours’ own records.

Sources for each row, in order: 1969¹, Early 1970s¹, 1988¹, 1989¹, 1991¹, 1992¹, 1997¹, 2000¹, 2005¹, 2013¹, 2019⁶, 2022⁵, 2023¹, 2025², 2026³

The first court in Acapulco

Enrique Corcuera was a Mexican businessman with a property in Acapulco. He wanted a court on land that could not accommodate a full tennis court, and the enclosure he built in 1969 was shaped by that constraint rather than by any plan to found a new sport.

The court measured 20 metres by 10 metres, roughly a quarter of the playing area of a tennis court. Walls of about three metres surrounded it, and a tennis net was strung across the middle. Those walls were the decisive choice. They began as a way of keeping the ball inside a small plot, and they became part of play, since a ball that had bounced on the floor could rebound off a wall and still be returned. The dimensions Corcuera settled on have proved durable: FIP’s current rules still specify a 20 × 10 metre court.⁴

Rules were needed for the new layout, and FIP credits Corcuera’s wife, Viviana, with drafting the first written set. Scoring followed tennis, which meant players arriving from tennis needed to learn only the wall play and the underarm serve. If you want the current version of those rules explained from scratch, our guide to what padel is covers the court, the serve and the scoring.

How padel reached Spain and Argentina

Two visitors to Acapulco carried the game to the countries that would develop it. Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe played on Corcuera’s court and took the idea back to Spain, where he built courts at the Marbella Club Hotel. Marbella gave padel a base on the Costa del Sol, and the sport spread through Spanish clubs from there.

The Argentine route ran through Julio Menditeguy, who encountered the game and introduced it in Argentina. Argentina proved the more organised of the two early adopters. Its clubs built courts in numbers through the 1980s and it was Argentina, not Spain, that produced the first formal governing body.

The order matters, because Spain’s later dominance of the professional game is often read backwards into the sport’s origin. Spain is where padel became a mass participation sport in Europe. It is not where padel was created, and it is not where the first national association was formed.

The 1980s and the first glass court

The Asociación Padel Argentino was founded in 1988, and FIP identifies it as the first national padel association. In January of the same year, Spain and Argentina met at Mar del Plata in the first international competition between the two countries. A governing body and a fixture between national sides gave the game a competitive structure that individual clubs could not supply on their own.

The other change of the decade was physical. In 1989 Jorge Galeotti introduced the first detachable and transportable glass court, known as the Crystal Palace. FIP’s account treats this as a turning point for the presentation of the sport: transparent walls let spectators watch a rally from outside the enclosure, and a court that could be dismantled could be installed at a venue for a tournament and removed afterwards. That assessment is FIP’s, and the two effects it describes, visibility and portability, are the reason tournament padel no longer depends on permanently built facilities.

FIP, unified rules and world championships

The International Padel Federation was founded in Madrid on 12 July 1991 by the Argentine, Spanish and Uruguayan associations. Three national bodies were enough to create an international authority, and the federation’s first task was competition rather than regulation.

The first World Padel Championships followed in 1992, staged in Madrid and Seville. A world title made the differences between national rule sets awkward, and in 1997 Spain and Argentina agreed on a unified set of rules and on the official spelling “Padel”. The spelling question was not cosmetic. A single agreed name across two languages made federation paperwork, tournament sanctioning and international entry lists consistent.

Membership grew slowly. By the end of the 1990s FIP counted 11 national federations, and the age categories widened at the turn of the century with the first World Junior Championship at La Plata in 2000.

The professional era

Professional padel arrived later than the world championships and developed through a sequence of circuits rather than a single continuous tour.

Sources for each row, in order: Padel Pro Tour¹, World Padel Tour¹, Premier Padel⁵, CUPRA FIP Tour⁶

The Padel Pro Tour began in 2005 and ran for eight seasons, establishing an international professional calendar for the first time. World Padel Tour took over in 2013 and ran for eleven seasons, through to its final season in 2023.

Premier Padel began in 2022 as the official global professional tour governed by FIP, and it remains so.⁵ The handover was not immediate. Premier Padel and World Padel Tour ran in parallel across the 2022 and 2023 seasons, with players and tournaments split between two competing calendars, and only after World Padel Tour’s final 2023 season did Premier Padel become the sole leading circuit. Alongside it, FIP runs the CUPRA FIP Tour, launched in 2019 and renamed in 2020, as the development and ranking layer below the top level.⁶ Current standings from the professional game are collected on our padel player rankings pages.

How courts and competition changed

Five documented changes separate the 1969 court from a 2026 tournament. The court itself started as a fixed masonry enclosure with solid walls of about three metres. The detachable glass court of 1989 kept the same playing dimensions and changed the material, which is why courts from either era play to the same 20 × 10 metre footprint FIP still specifies.

On the competitive side, the 1997 agreement gave the sport one rule set and one spelling, the world championships from 1992 gave national teams a title to contest, and the junior and senior categories extended that structure by age. The professional circuits from 2005 added a year-round calendar and a ranking. Those are the changes the record supports. Claims that racket construction, artificial turf or television coverage caused the growth in participation are common, but FIP’s own history does not make them, and this article does not either.

The formats used in club play changed alongside the professional game. If you organise social sessions, our Americano tournament generator and Mexicano tournament generator build the rounds and scoring for those formats.

Padel’s current reach

As of 2026, FIP reported 100 affiliated national federations and approximately 35 million amateur players worldwide.³ The federation total passed 100 in 2025, announced at the FIP General Assembly of 29 November 2025. Both figures are FIP’s own, and the participation number is a federation estimate rather than an independently audited count, so it should always be quoted with its year and its source.

Older articles frequently repeat a figure of 20 million players in 57 countries. That number belongs to an earlier reporting period and no longer describes the sport. For the current set of participation, court and market figures, see our padel statistics report, and for a first session on court, the beginner tips guide covers positioning and the shots worth learning first.

Common history errors

Five claims recur in secondary write-ups of padel’s origins. Each one is contradicted by FIP’s account.

Frequently asked questions

Who invented padel?

Enrique Corcuera, a Mexican businessman, built the first padel court at his home in Acapulco. FIP credits his wife, Viviana Corcuera, with writing the first rules.

When was padel invented?

1969, when the first enclosed court went up in Acapulco.

Where was padel invented?

Acapulco, Mexico, on a 20 × 10 metre enclosed court built on the grounds of Enrique Corcuera's home.

Was padel invented in Spain?

No. It was created in Mexico in 1969 and reached Spain in the early 1970s, when Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe built courts at the Marbella Club Hotel.

Who brought padel to Spain?

Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe. He'd played on Corcuera's court in Acapulco, then built his own at the Marbella Club Hotel.

When was the International Padel Federation founded?

FIP was founded in Madrid on 12 July 1991 by the Argentine, Spanish and Uruguayan associations.

What was the first professional padel tour?

The Padel Pro Tour, which ran from 2005 to 2012, eight seasons in total.

When did World Padel Tour end?

WPT played its final season in 2023, after eleven seasons since 2013.

What is the current professional padel tour?

Premier Padel, launched in 2022 and governed by FIP as the official global professional tour. FIP also runs the CUPRA FIP Tour as a development and ranking circuit underneath it.

When were glass padel courts introduced?

1989, when Jorge Galeotti introduced the first detachable, transportable glass court, known as the Crystal Palace.

Sources

• 1. International Padel Federation (FIP), International Padel Federation — History and official milestones, Origin in Acapulco, the first court, Viviana Corcuera's rules, the spread to Spain and Argentina, the 1988 association and competition, the 1989 glass court, FIP's foundation, the 1992 and 2000 championships, the 1997 rules agreement and the professional circuits from 2005 onwards.
• 2. International Padel Federation (FIP), International Padel Federation — 35th FIP General Assembly, 29 November 2025, Fourteen new national federations joining and FIP reaching 100 affiliated members, announced 29 November 2025 after the assembly held in Acapulco on 28 November 2025.
• 3. International Padel Federation (FIP), International Padel Federation — World Padel Report 2025, FIP's participation analysis, including active players surpassing 35 million.
• 4. International Padel Federation (FIP), International Padel Federation — Official documents and Rules of Padel, Court dimensions, wall heights and playing surface as standardised by FIP.
• 5. International Padel Federation (FIP), International Padel Federation — A record-breaking first season for Premier Padel, Premier Padel's 2022 launch season as the FIP-governed global professional tour.
• 6. International Padel Federation (FIP), International Padel Federation — CUPRA FIP Tour: five years of growth, FIP's own circuit launching in 2019 and being renamed the CUPRA FIP Tour in 2020.