NextGen padel talent set for three FIP Promises events across continents

Three FIP Promises events are set across Valladolid, Koksijde and Abidjan, putting 12 junior draws, eight in the men’s categories and four in the women’s, on court over a single weekend. The spread is the clearest sign yet that padel’s NextGen pathway is no longer concentrated in one region, with Spain, Belgium and Côte d’Ivoire all hosting official youth competition at the same time.

Valladolid carries the deepest European field. The boys’ Under-18 title picture includes Pablo Chacón Díaz and Leon David Ruiz Shannon, with Nicolás Callejo Herrero and Andrés Ortuno de Pablo, plus Sergio Merchan González and Eduardo Merino Prado, also in the leading group. In the next age category, Jaime Rodríguez and Ian García Calvo are the top seeds, while the girls’ Under-16 draw is headed by Samantha Fernández Call and Marina Herrera Serrano. The tournament runs from 2 July to 5 July, with qualification on 2 July if needed, the main draw beginning 3 July, six match courts, three practice courts and finals set for 5 July at 9:30 local time. The event page also sets a minimum of four pairs per category for 2026, a small but telling sign of how the federation is standardising access across youth draws.

Koksijde brings a different competitive profile, with outdoor play on blue turf and a compact but well-defined setup of four match courts and one practice court. The Under-18 boys’ field features Loris Morvan and Eliott Verraghen, Maxim Cardinal and Gonzalo Florez Ruz, and Stan Gailliaert and Achiel Pille, while the Under-16 boys’ list includes Vince Liekens and Maxim Struyf. In the girls’ Under-16 draw, Emma Díaz Andreu and Anna Carolina Leder stand out alongside Elena Rossius and Tiana Radanovic. The Belgian stop runs from 3 July to 5 July and closes on Sunday with semifinals and finals, underlining how a newer junior market can still stage a full competitive weekend with structure around it, including player services and hotel arrangements.

Abidjan is the sharpest marker of where the sport is investing next. The Ivorian capital has already hosted a FIP Gold in late June and a FIP Silver in April, and now it adds a Promises stop from 2 July to 5 July with five match courts, five practice courts and indoor conditions. Practice courts are available from 8 to 10 a.m. through mobile app or WhatsApp booking, a practical detail that points to an increasingly organised event ecosystem. FIP said the Promises circuit produced 1,078 entries in a late-season weekend across Europe, Asia and Africa in 2025, while the federation staged 90 tournaments that year, up 120% from 41 in 2024.

That growth feeds into a bigger structural shift. FIP’s 2026 Promises model will run continental circuits for Europe, America, Asia-Oceania and Africa, and from 2027 it plans a global Under-18 circuit of 10 international tournaments plus a Master Final reserved for the highest-ranked players from each continent. This weekend’s three stops show that padel’s junior map is already being redrawn, from long-established Spanish depth to Belgian organisation and, increasingly, African player production.