Padel in Thailand in 2026: courts, clubs and the national team

Four years ago padel in Thailand meant 15 courts in the whole country, according to the Thai Padel Series. In 2026 it is a sport with a national association, a domestic circuit, international tour stops in three cities and a four-player team heading to the Asian Games.

This guide sets out where padel in Thailand stands today, what the different court counts actually measure, where the growth is concentrated and how the national team came together. It is written from the perspective of Pad Thai Padel, a club that has watched the change happen from Rama IV Road in Bangkok and is now building in two more locations.

The clearest measure of growth is the number of courts. The Thai Padel Series, which runs the official domestic circuit and publishes player rankings, gave a snapshot in February 2024: Thailand had 15 courts in 2022, 30 in 2023 and around 65 expected by the end of 2024.

Two years on, every national count sits well above that projection. The Thailand Padel Association, which operates under the Padel Asia regional committee and is recognised by the International Padel Federation, lists 51 clubs and 140 courts in 2026. It also reports more than 5,000 regular players and over 150,000 people who have played at least once.

The Padel Society, the community app used to book and run events at Pad Thai Padel, carried out its own audit of venues in August 2026. That census counted 50 venues and 180 courts in Thailand. It classifies 82 courts as indoor and 74 as outdoor, and notes that 63 courts have a roof, which matters a great deal in the rainy season.

The two figures measure different things and should not be added together or averaged. The association's list is a directory of clubs that register with it, so it grows as clubs join. The Padel Society's census is a venue-by-venue audit of the courts the app's network can see, counted court by court, which is why it finds more courts at a similar number of venues.

Neither count is wrong. What they agree on is the direction of travel: Thailand has moved from 15 courts to well over 100 in four years, and from a few dozen regulars to a community measured in thousands. When you read a headline number for padel in Thailand, check which organisation produced it and whether it counts clubs, venues or courts.

The association's directory shows where the sport is concentrated. Bangkok has the most clubs at 14, followed by Phuket with 12 and Koh Samui with 7. Hua Hin, Pattaya and Koh Phangan have 4 clubs each, with smaller numbers in Chiang Mai, Koh Lanta, Koh Tao and Koh Chang.

• Bangkok is the largest player base and the home of the weekday evening game. Indoor courts let people play through the rainy season, and the city hosted the APPT's first Open in the capital in 2025 and its Grand Slam in January 2026.
• Phuket combines resident players with visitors. The APPT ran an Open and a Challenger in Phuket in the first half of 2026, and the Club Med Padel Cup 2026 finale is scheduled for Club Med Phuket from 30 November to 3 December.
• Pattaya joined the top tier in July 2026, when the APPT brought a Grand Slam to Prime Padel Pattaya for the first time, with a US$13,000 prize pool.

Two circuits shape the competitive year. The Thai Padel Series is the official domestic circuit, organising tournaments and maintaining rankings by gender and year. The Asia Pacific Padel Tour (APPT) is the region's professional tour, with Grand Slam, Challenger and Open tiers, and separate rankings for professional and amateur players.

Pad Thai Padel has hosted the two biggest APPT stops in Bangkok. The APPT Bangkok Open in February 2025 was the tour's first Open-level tournament in the city, with a sold-out draw and an international field. The Pad Thai Padel Grand Slam in January 2026 drew an international field competing across six categories for a US$13,000 prize pool. Both events opened amateur draws alongside the professional ones, which is how most club players get their first taste of tour padel. Upcoming dates are listed on our events page.

Thailand's first team appearances have come quickly. The Asia Pacific Padel Cup (APPC) 2026 was played from 25 to 28 June at Play Padel McKinley in Manila, with teams from the Philippines, Pakistan, India, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Brunei. Coaches and players from the Pad Thai Padel Academy formed part of the Thailand team. In the professional division Thailand beat South Korea in the group stage, lost the semi-final to eventual champions the Philippines and finished fourth after the third-place match against India.

The bigger stage is the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from 19 September to 4 October 2026, where padel is a medal sport for the first time. The Bangkok Post reported that Thailand will send four padel athletes. The national team received approval from the National Olympic Committee of Thailand while the Thailand Padel Association completes its registration with the Sports Authority of Thailand. The Olympic Council of Asia had asked for Thai participation after the Thai women finished sixth of 17 teams at the Asia Cup in Doha.

Pad Thai Padel opened on Rama IV Road as Bangkok's first premium padel club, with three courts (two indoor, one outdoor), open from 08:00 to 23:00 daily, and one of the biggest padel communities in the city. The club runs Americanos, Mexicanos and King of the Court nights every week, plus the Pad Thai Padel Championship, an amateur league now entering its fourth season with men's divisions from Iron to Gold and two women's divisions.

The academy is led by head coach Jose Mouliaa, a former professional ranked 69 on Premier Padel, alongside APPT Grand Slam winner Eli Estrada. Adrian Ronco, the academy's pro player, competes on the Premier Padel circuit. Two more clubs are on the way: Pad Thai Padel Cloud 11 in South Sukhumvit is due to open in November 2026, and Pad Thai Padel Rawai in Phuket is opening in 2027. Our other guides cover how to book, how levels work and how to start.

Padel in Thailand is no longer a niche. Whichever count you prefer, the country has multiplied its courts many times over since 2022, built hubs in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya, hosted the region's biggest tournaments and put a team on the start line of the Asian Games. The next chapter is about depth: more indoor courts, more coaching and more Thai players coming through the levels.