Padel is no longer a niche. Research by the KNLTB and EY shows that in 2025 around 876,000 people in the Netherlands played padel at least once. More than 424,000 of them play monthly. The total number of courts rose to 3,523, spread across 780 venues, an average of 4.5 courts per venue.
That scale is new. Five years ago padel was still a sport with a handful of venues and a mostly male, urban following. Now it is becoming a broad, mainstream sport, with players of every age and level.
Who are these players?
The research draws an interesting distinction in how people play. Roughly 60 percent of padel players play fewer than five times a year. They pick up a racket occasionally, but they are not committed club members. The other 40 percent play regularly and have a clear competitive or social need.
Within that second group, competitive play has grown fast. In three years the number of match players has nearly tripled to 91,196. These are players who actively take part in leagues, follow rankings and take their level seriously. In 2025 there were more than 18,000 competition teams active.
