Spain open FIP Junior Euro Padel Cup with dominant start

Spain opened the Final 8 in Porto with two emphatic 3-0 wins, the boys beating Denmark without dropping a set and the girls blanking Belgium while conceding only nine games. That kind of clean start did more than secure early group control at the FIP Junior Euro Padel Cup, it again put Spain at the center of the junior game’s competitive standard.

The tournament runs at Padel Athletic Club from June 27 to July 4, with qualifying held from June 27-29 before the Final 8 began on June 30. It spans Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18 categories and serves as a step on the road to the FIP Junior World Cup 2027. In that structure, Spain’s opening sweep mattered because it showed a national program producing results across age groups and across both the boys’ and girls’ draws at the same time.

France matched the early pace with a 3-0 boys’ win over Estonia and a 3-0 girls’ win over the same opponent, while Portugal gave the home crowd plenty to enjoy with a 3-0 girls’ victory over the Netherlands and a 2-1 boys’ win against Sweden. Those results suggested a competitive first day, but Spain still separated itself through the margins: no sets dropped by the boys, no sets dropped by the girls, and only nine games conceded in the girls’ tie.

That matters because Spain’s edge has been built as much on system as on talent. The defending champions won both the boys’ and girls’ titles at the 2024 European junior championships in Budapest, where the week featured more than 300 young players and 426 matches. Winning both crowns once can be called a strong cycle; doing it again at the start of the next continental campaign points to a pipeline that keeps replenishing itself.

Luigi Carraro, the FIP president, described Porto as the first time Portugal had hosted a major continental junior event of this profile, and the host nation’s early wins added another layer of intensity to the week. He also urged the young players to enjoy the tournament, make friends on and off the court, and wear their national colors with pride, a reminder that the event is as much about development and identity as it is about medals.

Spain’s fast start in Porto suggested why rivals keep measuring themselves against it. France is close enough to win multiple ties cleanly, Portugal can ride home support into results, but Spain still arrives with the deepest junior machine in Europe.