A count published on August 18 lists 1,724 players, or 862 pairs, entered in the 39th Spanish Youth Championship – Babolat Trophy. The competition will run from August 24 to 30, 2026 in Valencia, with Sportcity Massanassa as the main venue and SUMA Pádel Alfafar as the supporting site. The official FEP competition page confirms the dates, venue and five categories: benjamín, alevín, infantil, cadete and junior.
1,724 players, but no new record
The number remains substantial. It is not an entry record. In 2025, the Spanish Padel Federation announced 1,848 participants in Madrid and described that attendance as a record. The 2026 edition therefore has 124 fewer players than the previous championship.
In the August 18 count, the cadete category is the largest with 248 pairs. Infantil follows with 227 pairs, junior with 184, alevín with 132 and benjamín with 71. The announced split is 582 men’s pairs and 280 women’s pairs.
The official format remains open. In each category, the final draw contains 32 pairs: the top 24 by ranking enter the main draw directly and eight more qualify from the preliminary stage.
44 courts across Massanassa and Alfafar
The Valencian padel federation has announced 44 courts across the two venues. It also plans to stream the final sessions on August 29 and 30 across ten courts.
Hosting the championship in Valencia also fits the regional federation’s aim of strengthening local padel. When she took office on July 16, president Paloma Cerdá summed up one of her priorities this way:
keep driving the growth of padel in our Community.
The championship starts on Monday, August 24 and ends on Sunday, August 30. With 862 pairs entered, the 2026 edition remains one of Spain’s largest youth events, but the entry record still belongs to Madrid in 2025.
