A historic event for Bulgaria in one of the world’s fastest-growing sports took place in Sofia. For the first time ever, the country hosted an international padel tournament under the auspices of the International Padel Federation (FIP).
Padel, currently the second most popular sport in Spain after football, with around 6 million players, is rapidly developing in Bulgaria as well. The goal of the International Federation is for padel to become an Olympic sport by the 2032 Games.
The sport’s development in Bulgaria reached a milestone with the first FIP tournament held at Padel Club Sofia, located in the Tsarsko Selo complex. Just like in tennis, the FIP tour features different tournament tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Winners of Bronze tournaments earn 40 points in the world rankings; Silver – 80 points; Gold – 150. The calendar also includes 4 major tournaments and a year-end finals event for top-ranked players.
Starting in 2025, the FIP Bronze Sofia tournament at Padel Club Sofia will be part of the official FIP calendar. A total of 61 pairs registered for the inaugural edition.
The men’s champions were Denis Perino (Italy) and Ignacio Albornoz (Argentina), who defeated Alejandro Camero (Spain) and Clement Geens (Belgium) in the final with 6:3, 6:3. Albornoz is ranked 54th in the world, Perino is 57th, and the duo was seeded No. 1 in the draw.
Bulgarian players Toni Neykov and Venjamin Niv received wild cards into the main draw. Georgi Stoyanov and Evangelos Bogris (Greece) advanced through the qualifiers, while Nikola Tuparov and Stoyan Dinchiyski, and Martin Harizanov and Rumen Goranov entered the round of 16 as “lucky losers.”
In the women’s final, Spaniards Paula Ferrani and Natalia Paniagua claimed victory over fellow countrywomen Maria Teresa Gomez and Bianca Serejon with a score of 6:4, 7:5. Bulgarian pair Karina Dimova and Diyana Mitev played in the main draw with a wild card.
“We are extremely happy to have had the opportunity to host the first international tournament in Bulgaria,” said Janosh Broglie, President of Padel Club Sofia. “The players were impressed by the conditions, the courts, the overall organization, and the level of competition. We even had participants well above the typical level for a Bronze-category event. The greatest reward for us was hearing that the tournament felt like a Gold-category event. This first event on the International Padel Federation calendar is a very important step in the sport’s development in Bulgaria,” he said. In Bulgarian First, Sofia Hosts FIP Padel Tournament THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2025-10-21 16:49:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law