The driving force behind padel: Lombardy is one of the two regions driving Italy’s record growth. The other is Lazio, which leads the country with 2,034 padel facilities. Italy ranks second only to Spain worldwide in the number of courts, clubs and players. According to the International Padel Federation‘s study dedicated to Lombardy, released to coincide with the Oysho Milano Premier Padel P1, currently taking place at the Allianz Cloud and featuring the world’s top players, the region has 10,300 courts, while Italy as a whole has 2.2 million players and 3,844 clubs.
In just five years, from October 2021, Lombardy has gone from 513 to 1,471 courts (+186%), while the number of clubs has risen from 176 to 461 (+161%). In the other rankings featured in the FIP’s special study, Lombardy is virtually top across the board: it has the highest number of facilities with indoor courts, with 338 compared to Lazio’s 233, and the highest number of covered courts, with 1,166 compared to 772. It also matches Lazio for the average number of courts per club (3.3), leads in the number of FITP-registered players, with 10,839 compared to Lazio’s 8,961, and has the highest number of municipalities (296) with at least one padel facility. What is behind the boom? The game is relatively easy to pick up at first, although its technical and tactical demands increase considerably at higher levels. Padel also lends itself naturally to socialising and benefits from a wide range of playing opportunities, with amateur and professional tournaments held around the world thanks to the work of the 115 national federations affiliated with the FIP. In Italy, this is complemented by FITP, the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation, and its extensive network of competitive and amateur players.
THE PROVINCES Milan leads the way with 133 clubs and 549 courts, a figure that has grown enormously since 2021, when there were 236 courts and 66 clubs. Some way behind Milan, but with the region’s second-highest figures, is Brescia, with 208 courts (up from 73 in 2021) and 69 clubs (up from 26). Bergamo ranks third with 151 courts and 50 clubs, followed by Varese (125 courts), Como (90), Monza (84), Pavia (83) and Mantua (54). The list is completed by Lodi (42), Cremona (39), Lecco (36) and Sondrio (10).
However, these rankings do not tell the whole story when it comes to growth. Cremona, for example, had just three courts in 2021 and now has 39, giving it the highest percentage increase since that year: 1,200%, ahead of Como (+542%) and Mantua (+315%). It is no longer appropriate to describe the phenomenon as “padel fever” — another expression that sounds romantically old-fashioned. Italy is the world’s second-largest country for padel in terms of passion, facilities and the willingness to get off the sofa and play.
THE FIP WORLD PADEL REPORT 2026 According to the recently published FIP World Padel Report 2026, padel is now played by 40 million people worldwide, with a network of 91,200 courts — almost 14,000 more than a year ago (+20.4%) — across 28,497 facilities (+15.7%). Padel is played in 191 countries, 21 more than last year, and the sport has 1,110,000 registered players (+30.5%).
Padel’s growth in Italy has been particularly impressive. The number of courts has risen from just over 1,800 in 2020 to more than 10,300 as of September 2026, an increase of 464.5% that makes Italy the world’s second-largest country by court numbers, behind Spain. The number of clubs has grown by 364.3%, from 828 to 3,844. The number of players has risen from 350,000 in 2020 to 2.2 million today, an extraordinary increase of 528.5%.