Under this agreement, the WPT will be combined with the QSI-owned Premier Padel to form a single global professional padel tour. 

Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) has acquired the World Padel Tour (WPT) from its organisers Damm in a bid to unify the world’s professional tour under one entity, QSI stated on Thursday.

Following this agreement, Premier Padel and WPT will now be unified as one global professional padel tour called Premier Padel, which is governed by the International Padel Federation.

A deal, which took several months, has been applauded as a “historic moment for the sport of padel” by Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the chairman of QSI and Premier Padel. 

“This is a historic moment for the sport of padel. As the fastest-growing sport globally, QSI is proud to be at the heart of driving the development of padel professionally worldwide, always placing the players at the center of our mission to grow the sport everywhere”, Al-Khelaifi stated. 

QSI, charted by Al-Khelaifi, the owner of France’s Paris Saint Germain, launched Premier Padel in 2022. 

“Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, World Padel Tour, established in 2013, has served as the pre-eminent tour in the sport. It has featured over 26 men’s and women’s tournaments across 14 countries, boasting 17 global sponsors, television broadcasting rights spanning more than 150 countries, and an impressive social media following of nearly 4 million,” a statement from QSL said. 

“Throughout the remainder of the 2023 calendar year, the separate WPT and Premier Padel tours,” the statement also stated. However, next year, the tournament will change, showcasing the union. 

Luigi Carraro, President of the International Padel Federation stated:”The International Padel Federation thanks Damm for greatly contributing to the sport of padel through the World Padel Tour since its inception in 2013.

“We now look forward to the next fantastic phase of development and growth of professional padel under Premier Padel, which will benefit the whole padel community, including the national federations and – most importantly – the players and next generation,” Carraro added.