University of Barcelona wins two padel silvers at European Universities Games

University of Barcelona returned from Salerno with two silver medals in padel and a fourth-place finish in futsal, a strong close to its 2026 European Universities Games campaign. Arnau Candelo and Ignasi Carballeira carried the men’s doubles run all the way to the final, and UB’s women also reached the championship match before settling for silver.

The padel results came in a tournament that EUSA placed among the medal events at Salerno 2026, with the Games running from July 18 to August 1. The padel competition itself wrapped up on July 22, when medal matches decided the champions in a discipline the Salerno organisers described as a historic debut at the European Universities Games. In the women’s final, University Pablo de Olavide of Spain took gold and the University of Barcelona took silver.

UB’s double podium is notable because it came from two separate draws, not a single standout pair. Candelo and Carballeira gave the university a men’s silver, while the women’s side matched that result by reaching the final of its own bracket. That kind of across-the-board progress matters in university sport, where depth often separates programs that can produce one isolated run from those that can place athletes in medal contention on both sides of the draw.

The other numbers from UB’s trip sharpen the picture. The university also finished fourth in futsal, narrowly missing another podium in a different team sport during a demanding multi-event week in Salerno, Italy. That broader showing suggests a delegation built to compete across disciplines rather than one leaning on a single medal chance, and it is exactly the sort of structure that can turn a campus program into a steady source of high-level padel players.

For padel, the result adds to the sport’s growing presence inside European university competition. With a historic debut already logged in Salerno and universities like Barcelona sending players deep into the finals, the college pathway is beginning to look less like a sideshow and more like a meaningful proving ground for future elite competition.