almost 500 padel courts have now been built in the UK, which is still some way behind the number available in Spain and Italy.

That’s according to the 2024 edition of the global padel report released by playtomic, the app that helps you players find a padel court to play or even grab an extra player if you’re short for a game.

According to its latest report, there are now 489 padel courts built in the UK, putting it in second to last place behind the US who have built 454 courts. at the top of the building list is Spain who as of January 2024, have built 16,126 courts. Italy is second with 8,347 courts, so That’s some drop from first to second.

In the uk in 2023, 239 of those 489 courts were built, so that’s a 95% increase in the number of dedicated spots to play and shows that things are quickly picking up, even it’s still way behind other major European countries. the report also shows that in 2016, there were less than 40 clubs dedicated to padel in the UK. so, things have really picked up in the last few years.

Regionally, London, surrey and essex are among the top spots for the number of clubs with growth in west yorkshire and Gloucestershire other key locations where clubs and courts are popping up. it’s a growth that is actually happening throughout the country, which is good to hear, with manchester topping london in terms of court occupancy rates.

Despite not having as many courts as other padel-loving regions, Scotland is also seeing an increase in interest, particularly in Glasgow and Midlothian according to the report.

along with France and germany, the UK is seen as having big potential for growth with a greater acceleration of the sport predicted for the latter half of 2024 and going into early 2025.

There is a host of other interesting tidbits in this report, including how many padel rackets were sold in 2023 (over 4.5 million globally), including a breakdown in racket type. There’s also a look at how more professional events are now taking place, which is being seen as key to the interest of the sport continuing to grow.

You can grab a closer look at the 2024 global padel report here.