# Kroon Padel × Fernhill Creative — Market brief: padel in the Netherlands and Flanders, spring 2027 launch

## 1. Netherlands market size

The most authoritative public source for the Netherlands is the **KNLTB/EY “Padel in Cijfers 2025”** research report, which uses KNLTB administrative data, commercial-club submissions and a player monitor, with a reference date of 31 December 2025 [1][5].

Latest verified figures:

- **Total people who played padel at least once in 2025:** 876,000 [1][3].
- **Monthly players:** c. 424,000 people played padel every month in 2025 [3].
- **Players registered with/known to the federation:** 343,000 people played padel via the KNLTB or held a padel membership in 2025 [5]. ANP coverage reports “nearly 345,000” registered padel players in 2025 [4].
- **Courts:** 3,523 padel courts across 780 locations in the Netherlands [3].
- **Venues/providers growth:** +15% in providers year on year, and +25% in courts year on year [1].
- **Growth since 2021:** the number of courts has more than tripled since 2021 [3].
- **Longer-term player growth:** KNLTB-registered padel players rose from c. 51,000 in 2020 to c. 345,000 in 2025, nearly seven times as many [4].
- **Pace of growth:** the latest KNLTB/EY report gives 10% growth in KNLTB-known players in 2025 [5]. The ANP report gives a 6% increase last year, with stronger growth in earlier years [4].

**Most authoritative source:** KNLTB/EY *Padel in Cijfers 2025* [1][5]. The report’s full PDF was referenced from EY, but the direct PDF link was not accessible during research; the KNLTB and EY press pages served as verification [1][2][5].

## 2. Flanders / Belgium

The latest federation numbers for Flanders/Belgium come from January 2026 reporting by La Libre/Belga:

- **Flemish padel federation players:** Tennis en Padel Vlaanderen counted **106,917 padel affiliates** in 2025, an increase of **17.35%** year on year [6].
- **Total Tennis en Padel Vlaanderen members:** 211,463 members across tennis, padel and pickleball in 2025 [6]. A Flemish newspaper report gives 212,000 total members, of which 107,000 padel players [7].
- **Wallonia-Brussels padel players:** 10,733 registered padel players as of 30 September 2025, up 19.4% versus end-2024 [6].

**Courts:** The search did not produce an exact, current Flemish court count. The Deloitte/Playtomic Global Padel Report 2023 listed Belgium at **1,395 courts** [8]. More recent Belgian reporting says the number of Belgian padel clubs multiplied from 35 to 340 between 2017 and 2025, and courts rose from 86 to 1,006 [9]. Flemish reporting specifically says only **8 Flemish padel courts were added in 2025**, compared with 127 in 2023, indicating a sharp slowdown in Flemish court construction even while player numbers are still rising [7]. So the market is not growing at the same pace on the supply side.

## 3. Global context

The latest Deloitte-linked global report that could be verified here is the **Playtomic/Monitor Deloitte Global Padel Report 2023**:

- It put the world total at **nearly 40,000 courts** at the time, with a projection of **c. 85,000 courts by 2026** [10][11].
- It classified the Netherlands and Belgium as markets already experiencing the padel boom, with **1,445 courts in the Netherlands** and **1,395 courts in Belgium**, both above the 1,000-court threshold [8].
- It estimated the global padel ecosystem at about **€2 billion in 2022, rising to €6 billion by 2026** [10][11].

More recent third-party reporting citing the International Padel Federation (FIP) puts the world total at **more than 63,000 courts and 20,000 clubs**, with c. 30 million players in 130+ countries [12]. A 2025 Global Padel Report by Playtomic/PwC describes the **Benelux region as maturing**, with gross monetary value per court up 12% [13].

## 4. Who plays

In the Netherlands:

- **Gender split:** around **35% women and 65% men** among KNLTB-known padel players; the report notes the female share had declined since 2020 and stabilised around this level [5].
- **Largest age group:** the **25–34 age category is the largest in absolute numbers** [5].
- **Youth growth:** the youngest categories are growing strongly, with a doubling among the youngest groups [3].
- A large share of players are low-frequency/flexible: **50–60% of all players play five times or fewer per year** [1][5].

## 5. The Olympic angle

We **cannot verify the client’s premise** that padel has been added to the Olympic programme for LA 2028. None of the sources found in this search confirms LA 2028 inclusion. Instead, a January 2026 industry article reports that the expectation is for padel to debut at the **Brisbane 2032** Games [12]. Because the LA 2028 premise is unverified and likely false, we cannot provide key Olympic padel dates for 2028 [12]. We recommend reviewing the official IOC and FIP programmes before any Olympic-themed creative work.

## 6. Equipment market — Deloitte “Benelux Padel Outlook 2026”

We **could not verify the CEO’s figure**. No public copy of a Deloitte *Benelux Padel Outlook 2026*, nor the reported **€212 million Dutch padel equipment market** figure, was found in this search. We cannot provide a page number for footnote purposes.

For reference, a third-party Dutch padel statistics site estimates the Dutch material market, including rackets, clothing and balls, at roughly **€80–€120 million** in 2025 [15]. This does not confirm the Deloitte figure; it simply shows a significantly lower third-party estimate. The Deloitte figure should be treated as unverified unless the original report is supplied.

## 7. Racket brand market shares in the Netherlands, 2025

We **could not verify market shares by brand** for padel rackets sold in the Netherlands in 2025. No public source found in this search provides Bullpadel, Head, Adidas, Babolat or Nox percentage shares of NL racket sales.

The closest available indicator is product-range listing data from Padel-Info.nl, which ranks brands by number of products listed on that Dutch retail site, not by sales volume or market share [16]. On that measure:

- Bullpadel: 605 products
- Head: 252
- Wilson: 233
- Adidas: 225
- Babolat: 190
- Nox: 129 [16]

This is not equivalent to market share and should not be presented as such to investors.

## 8. So what? Two implications for the launch campaign

**1. Aim at the flexible, social, 25–34 majority — and speak explicitly to women.**  
The largest age group is 25–34, the share of women is about 35%, and 50–60% of all players play flexibly or low-frequency [5]. So the campaign should not be built around hardcore tournament players. It should lead with accessibility, social connection and “easy to start, easy to play”, with dedicated women-focused creative and 25–34-year-old urban/flexible use cases [1][5].

**2. Do not anchor the campaign on Olympic LA 2028.**  
The LA 2028 inclusion could not be verified and appears to contradict available reporting pointing to 2032 [12]. Instead, the campaign can ride verified local momentum: 876,000 Dutch people played in 2025, 424,000 play monthly, and major events such as CUPRA Rotterdam Premier Padel are growing domestic visibility [3]. However, because court and venue capacity is not keeping up with player demand [1], the strongest equipment opportunity is converting existing monthly players into Kroon racket/apparel users rather than relying on new player entry from new courts.

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## Sources

1. KNLTB, “KNLTB en EY presenteren tweede editie Padel in Cijfers,” April 2026:  
   https://www.knltb.nl/nieuws/2026/03/knltb-en-ey-presenteren-tweede-editie-padel-in-cijfers/

2. EY Nederland, “876.000 padelspelers in Nederland: groei zet door, nieuwe fase in professionalisering,” March 2026:  
   https://www.ey.com/nl_nl/newsroom/2026/03/padelspelers-in-nederland-groei-zet-door-nieuwe-fase-in-professionalisering

3. CUPRA Rotterdam Premier Padel, “Padel blijft groeien in Nederland,” 2026:  
   https://premierpadelrotterdam.com/nieuws/padel-blijft-groeien-in-nederland/

4. Harderwijkercourant/ANP, “Bijna zeven keer zoveel padellers in 2025 als vijf jaar eerder,” 2 April 2026:  
   https://www.harderwijkercourant.nl/sport/padel/1265979/bijna-zeven-keer-zoveel-padellers-in-2025-als-vijf-jaar-eerder

5. KNLTB/EY, “Padel in cijfers — Onderzoeksrapport 2025,” reference date 31 December 2025:  
   https://www.ey.com/content/dam/ey-unified-site/ey-com/nl-nl/newsroom/2026/03/pdf/ey-padel-in-cijfers-2025-updated.pdf

6. La Libre/Belga, “Les fédérations de tennis, padel et pickleball ont fait le plein de membres en 2025,” 14 January 2026:  
   https://www.lalibre.be/dernieres-depeches/2026/01/14/les-federations-de-tennis-padel-et-pickleball-ont-fait-le-plein-de-membres-en-2025-5EUHE3FUTJD2JBOUU745IZDGAQ/

7. GVA, “Amper 8 Vlaamse padelterreinen extra in 2025, provincie Antwerpen is absolute koploper”:  
   https://www.gva.be/binnenland/amper-8-vlaamse-padelterreinen-extra-in-2025-provincie-antwerpen-is-absolute-koploper/150287343.html

8. Mundo Deportivo/Palco23, “El pádel acelera su expansión: Deloitte apunta a un negocio de 6.000 millones de euros en 2026,” 11 December 2023:  
   https://www.mundodeportivo.com/palco23/entorno/el-padel-acelera-su-expansion-deloitte-apunta-a-un-negocio-de-6000-millones-de-euros-en-2026

9. The Brussels Times, “Padel fever: How Belgium fell in love with a sport”:  
   https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/2362385/padel-fever-how-belgium-fell-in-love-with-a-sport

10. Sharecast/PRNewswire, “Playtomic and Monitor Deloitte report: the padel industry will grow to reach 6 billion euros in 2026,” 27 June 2023:  
    https://www.sharecast.com/press_note/market_reports/playtomic-and-monitor-deloitte-report-the-padel-industry-will-grow-to-reach-6-billion-euros-in-2026--13841770.html

11. Deloitte/Mynewsdesk, “Padelindustrin väntas växa till 6 miljarder euro till 2026,” 3 July 2023:  
    https://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/deloitte/pressreleases/padelindustrin-vaentas-vaexa-till-6-miljarder-euro-till-2026-3262707.pdf

12. Exame/BTG Pactual content, “O esporte que inaugura três novas quadras por dia — e não é o beach tênis,” 1 January 2026:  
    https://exame.com/casual/o-esporte-que-inaugura-tres-novas-quadras-por-dia-e-nao-e-o-beach-tenis-2/

13. King Padel Tour/Padelbiz, “Global Padel Report 2025: growing expansion and club revenues,” 9 July 2025:  
    https://kingpadeltour.it/2025/07/09/global-padel-report-2025-growing-expansion-and-club-revenues-padelbiz/

14. Cheil Benelux LinkedIn post on padel’s Olympic ambition, referencing 2032:  
    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cheil-benelux_comecheilwithus-creativitytexhnologytech-activity-7273245862892392448-yTAi

15. Padelbaneninnederland.nl, “Padel groei statistieken Nederland”:  
    https://padelbaneninnederland.nl/padel-groei-statistieken/

16. Padel-Info.nl, “Padelmerken vergelijken: alle 83 merken op een rij”:  
    https://padel-info.nl/merken/