Is Padel an Olympic Sport? The Road to Brisbane 2032

The Short Answer: Not Yet

Padel is not an Olympic sport. It was not on the program at Paris 2024, and it will not be at the Los Angeles 2028 Games either — the additional sports for LA were locked in back in 2023, and padel was not among them.

But "not yet" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The International Padel Federation (FIP) has made Olympic inclusion its core strategic objective, and nearly everyone who follows the Olympic inclusion process points to the same target: Brisbane 2032. The sports program for those Games is expected to be finalized in 2027, which makes the next 18 months the most important stretch in padel's Olympic campaign so far.

What It Takes to Become an Olympic Sport

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not add sports on hype alone. A sport needs to clear several bars:

An IOC-recognized international federation

The sport must be governed by a single international federation that the IOC formally recognizes, with anti-doping rules fully compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency. Padel already has this box checked — more on that below.

Genuine global participation

This is the famous numbers test. To be considered for the Olympic program, a sport must be widely practiced by men in at least 75 countries across four continents and by women in at least 40 countries across three continents. The women's threshold is the easier of the two; the men's 75-country bar is where most emerging sports stall.

Timing

The core Olympic program is typically settled around seven years before each Games, though host committees can propose additional sports later — that is how LA 2028 added flag football, cricket, squash, and lacrosse in 2023. For Brisbane 2032, the roster is expected to be revealed in 2027.

Where Padel Stands

Padel's Olympic file has improved dramatically in a short time:

• Recognition: The FIP holds IOC recognition through ARISF (the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations) — the formal waiting room for Olympic-hopeful sports. The IOC is actively monitoring padel's growth.
• Federations: The FIP now counts 87 national member federations, up from just 32 in 2019 — and 16 of those joined since the start of 2025. On paper, that already clears the 75-country men's threshold; in practice, the IOC weighs real competitive depth, not just membership certificates, and that is where padel still has convincing to do.
• Players and courts: An estimated 25–30 million people play padel across 90+ countries, on more than 77,000 courts worldwide — a court count that grew over 15% in 2025 alone.
• Multi-sport milestones: Padel debuted at the European Games in Kraków in 2023 and has been confirmed as a medal sport at the 2027 European Games in Istanbul. It is also on the program for the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan. Inclusion in continental Games run by Olympic-family organizations is exactly the pathway sports travel before a Games debut.

Why LA 2028 Didn't Happen

When the LA 2028 organizers chose their five additional sports in October 2023, padel was never seriously in the running. Three things worked against it:

1. The numbers weren't there yet. In 2023 the FIP had far fewer member federations, and the men's 75-country requirement was clearly unmet.
2. Squash took the racquet slot. After decades of campaigning, squash finally got its Olympic debut at LA 2028. Host committees rarely add two niche racquet sports at once.
3. Padel's US moment was just beginning. Host-proposed sports tend to reflect domestic strength — flag football and lacrosse are American plays. Padel's US growth story has accelerated sharply since, but the LA decision predated most of it.

The consolation: missing LA 2028 focused the FIP's entire campaign on Brisbane, with a clear checklist and a 2027 deadline.

What Olympic Status Would Mean for US Padel

For American players, Olympic inclusion would be rocket fuel:

• Mainstream broadcast exposure. Most Americans have still never seen padel played at the highest level. An Olympic debut would put it in front of tens of millions of viewers overnight — no small thing when watching pro padel in the US still requires knowing where to look.
• Funding and structure. Olympic sports plug into national Olympic committee pathways — junior development, collegiate interest, and sponsorship money follow.
• Club growth. The US already has hundreds of padel clubs and new facilities opening monthly, a wave documented in our 2026 state of the sport report. The celebrity and athlete investment pouring into US padel is betting on exactly this kind of inflection point.

New to the sport entirely? Start with our explainer on what padel is and why it's growing so fast, then find a court near you on Padel Browser.

The Bottom Line

Padel is not an Olympic sport today, and it will not be one in 2028. But the sport has IOC recognition, a federation count that finally clears the headline threshold, medal status at two continental Games, and a governing body pushing hard toward a 2027 decision for Brisbane 2032. No emerging sport's Olympic case is a sure thing — but padel's is as strong as it has ever been, and the window is open.