Canal+ secures padel rights from 2026 in global expansion

Canal+ secured padel rights from 2026, giving Premier Padel a place inside a sports portfolio that already includes the Premier League, MotoGP and Formula 1. The deal moves the tour further into mainstream television and gives the sport a wider stage at a time when its calendar is growing, not shrinking.

Canal+'s 2026 padel listings set out 26 official tournaments in 18 countries, with three new cities on the map: London, Pretoria and Valencia. The four majors remain Qatar, Italy, Paris and Mexico, which keeps the biggest events anchored in the same blue-chip markets while widening the tour's footprint elsewhere. Canal+'s padel pages describe Premier Padel as the network's principal circuit, with live and replay coverage built around that full season.

The relationship between Canal+ and Premier Padel goes back to July 2022, when the broadcaster took rights in more than 60 territories, including France, and launched coverage at the Greenweez Paris Premier Padel Major at Roland-Garros on July 11-17, 2022. At the time, Canal+ sports director Thomas Sénécal said the broadcaster would provide complete coverage and said it was proud to showcase the sport globally until 2026. Premier Padel president Luigi Carraro said Canal+ was being added to the tour's international broadcaster portfolio.

The numbers behind the sport explain why that shelf space matters. Premier Padel has more than 25 million active players across 110 countries, and its broadcast footprint has already stretched well beyond the early days of the tour. The 2022 Italy Major reached 167 territories globally, up from 156 territories for the inaugural Qatar Major. More carriage means more chances for sponsors to see a sport with real scale, and more visibility for French players and French events, especially the Paris Major sitting among the tour's four biggest stops.

Canal+ is not the only player chasing that audience. beIN Sports also secured rights to all of the 2026 Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour and the 2026 FIP World Cup in 39 territories across MENA, APAC and North America. With Premier Padel governed by the International Padel Federation and backed by the Professional Padel Association and Qatar Sports Investments, the rights race now looks less like niche streaming and more like a global television push.