Premier Padel 2026: Tour Structure, Calendar, and Rankings Explained

What Premier Padel Is — and How It Replaced the WPT

Premier Padel is the FIP-sanctioned professional padel tour that launched in 2022 and became the definitive home of the world's top players following a protracted dispute with the World Padel Tour (WPT). For most of padel's professional history, the WPT held exclusive contracts with top players and ran the circuit independently of the International Padel Federation (FIP). This created a structural tension that culminated in 2023 when the vast majority of top-ranked players moved to Premier Padel, backed by the FIP and significant investment from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

The WPT continues to exist but no longer features the world's top players. Premier Padel is where Tapia, Coello, Galán, Chingotto, Lebrón, and every other player in the world top 20 compete. For fans and followers of the sport, Premier Padel is the only circuit worth tracking if you care about the best padel in the world.

The tour is jointly governed by the FIP and Setpoint Events, the commercial operator. Qatar Airways joined as title sponsor for the 2025–2026 seasons, adding significant budget and global reach. The full official name is the Qatar Airways Premier Padel Tour, though most coverage shortens it to Premier Padel.

2026 Calendar: Majors, P1s, and New Markets

The 2026 season opened on February 9 with the Riyadh Season P1, where Agustín Tapia and Arturo Coello collected the first trophy of the year. The calendar runs through December 7–13, when the Finals in Barcelona close the season with the top 16 men and top 16 women from the FIP Race Ranking.

The four Majors are the season's marquee events. Qatar hosts the first Major in April (6–11), followed by Italy in June (1–7), France in September (7–13), and Mexico closing the Major calendar in November (23–29). These four events carry the most ranking points and the highest prize pools.

Three markets make their Premier Padel debut in 2026: London in March, Pretoria in March, and Valencia in June. The London event reflects the UK's rapid padel growth — there are now more padel courts in London than in the entire United States — and signals the tour's intent to establish a presence in English-speaking markets. Pretoria marks the first African venue in tour history.

Other confirmed 2026 stops include Miami (March 23–29), Brussels, Asunción, and established European venues in Germany, Scandinavia, and the Middle East. The full 26-event schedule represents the most geographically diverse Premier Padel calendar to date.

Ranking System: How Points Are Earned and Lost

Premier Padel uses the FIP Race Ranking, which accumulates points across the season from zero at the start of each year. This rolling system differs from ATP/WTA rankings in that there are no points to defend from the previous year — it is a clean slate in January, which can produce dramatic shifts in standings through the early-season tournaments.

Points are awarded based on tournament tier and round reached. Majors award the most points for any given result — winning a Major is worth approximately three times the points for winning a P2 event. The Finals bonus multiplier means the Barcelona season climax can reshape end-of-year standings significantly.

The Race Ranking also determines qualification for the Finals. Only the top 16 men's pairs and top 16 women's pairs in the Race at the season cutoff date qualify for Barcelona. This creates genuine late-season stakes for pairs hovering just inside or outside the qualification bubble, making the final months of the tour particularly watchable.

For players competing on the Cupra FIP Tour (Platinum/Gold/Silver/Bronze, the second tier below Premier Padel), points earned there also contribute to the FIP World Ranking, which is used to determine main draw entry and seeding at Premier Padel events.

Prize Money: What Players Actually Earn

Premier Padel's prize money is the most comprehensive in the sport's history and has made professional padel economically viable for a larger pool of players than the WPT era allowed.

Major tournaments offer €525,000 per category (men and women). The winning pair at a Major earns €94,500 between them — €47,250 each. A first-round loss at a Major still pays out, though the minimum amounts are not publicly standardised across all events.

P1 events carry prize pools between €340,000 and €425,000 per category. P2 events range from €197,000 to €235,000. The exact figure varies by event depending on local sponsorship and host contributions.

The Finals in Barcelona operate on a separate prize structure with a bonus pool for the top performers of the season, details of which vary annually. Total prize money distributed across the 2026 tour across both men's and women's categories is in the range of €15–20 million, significantly above any previous padel circuit.

For context, a player ranked in the world top 30 who competes in all 26 events and reaches consistent quarterfinal stages could realistically earn €200,000–€350,000 per year in prize money alone, before sponsorship income.

Top Male Players Entering the 2026 Season

Agustín Tapia and Arturo Coello enter 2026 as the world's top-ranked pair, having accumulated 20,670 FIP Race points each as of May 2026. The Tapia/Coello partnership began in late 2024 and immediately established itself as the dominant force — their combination of Tapia's raw power and Coello's defensive athleticism is widely considered the most formidable pair in the sport's history.

Alejandro Galán and Federico Chingotto are ranked joint third with 17,580 points and represent the most credible challenger to Tapia/Coello. Galán is a former world number one who has reinvented his game over the past two seasons, and Chingotto's left-handed drive is among the most effective weapons on tour. This is the pair most likely to push Tapia/Coello across a full season.

Juan Lebrón, previously paired with Galán in the sport's most dominant duo of the early 2020s, enters 2026 in a new partnership with Augsburger. The expected transition has been watched closely — Lebrón's individual quality is beyond question, but new partnerships take time to build the automatisms that separate good pairs from great ones.

Below the top three pairs, Paquito Navarro and Momo González provide experienced competition, while a generation of players in their mid-twenties are pushing up the rankings with consistent results on P1 and P2 events.

Top Female Players Entering the 2026 Season

The women's draw enters 2026 with two pairs clearly separated from the field. Gemma Triay and Delfina Brea are the top seeds, with Triay widely regarded as the most complete female padel player of her generation. Her defensive ability, net play, and mental consistency under pressure set the standard that all other women's pairs are measured against.

Bea González and Paula Josemaría are the second-seeded pair and the most likely disruptors. Josemaría's attacking game from the left side is among the most dangerous in the women's draw, and González has developed into an exceptional partner over the past two seasons. Their head-to-head record with Triay/Brea makes for the women's tour's most compelling rivalry.

Alejandra Sánchez and various partners have maintained world top-10 presence consistently, providing depth and the occasional upset. The women's tour has benefited from stronger depth in 2025–2026, with pairs from Argentina, Sweden, and France regularly reaching semifinals at P1 level.

The women's draw at Majors features the same tier structure and ranking mechanics as the men's, with equal prize money per category — a structure that Premier Padel has maintained since its launch and that distinguishes it from many racket sports circuits.

How to Follow and Watch Premier Padel