FIP clarifies official padel balls, standard and high-altitude approved

Only approved balls can be used in official FIP competition, and the federation draws a hard line between standard and high-altitude models for a reason: padel does not play the same everywhere. The International Padel Federation says its certification system governs balls used in Premier Padel, the CUPRA FIP Tour and FIP Promises, and it is built to keep the sport comparable whether a match is played at sea level or in the mountains.

The practical split starts with the standard ball, which FIP allows to be either pressurized or pressureless. If it is pressureless, it must be acclimatized for at least 60 days at the altitude where the event will be played. The second category is the high-altitude ball, which FIP says may be used above 1,219 metres above sea level and must have internal pressure no greater than 7 kPa. That is not a laboratory curiosity. It is the federation’s way of keeping speed, bounce and shot tolerance from drifting too far when conditions change, which affects how much players can attack on the serve, how aggressively they can defend lobs and how quickly rallies turn over.

FIP says the approval process is built on ISO methods and SI units, and that it was introduced to standardize international manufacturers and their products. The system is meant to work for players, national associations, referees and umpires, tournament organisers and manufacturers. In other words, it is part of the sport’s operating system, not a side note. FIP also says the testing procedures for approval began on 1 April 2017, giving the current ball rules a clear starting point in the modern era of the game.

That push for uniformity fits FIP’s broader history. The federation was founded in Madrid on 12 July 1991 by the Argentine, Spanish and Uruguayan padel associations, and the first World Padel Championships were held in Spain in 1992. FIP says padel rules varied by country through the 1990s, which makes today’s two-ball framework a sign of how far the sport has moved toward common standards.

The governance structure is now built to enforce those standards at scale. FIP’s Board of Directors includes the president, the secretary general, six members elected by affiliated national federations and one athlete representative. Luigi Carraro was unanimously re-elected president in October 2024 at the 34th FIP General Assembly in Doha, and the federation says padel has grown to 38 million players and 100 affiliated federations. FIP also said its organized tournaments rose from 182 in 2024 to 290 in 2025, while Premier Padel, founded in 2022 by Qatar Sports Investments, FIP and the Professional Padel Association, added another commercial layer in January 2024 when Wilson was named to supply two official tournament balls, the Premier Padel ball and the Premier Padel Speed ball.