Premier Padel 2026 run-in: Kuwait Major, the Doha World Cup, Dubai, Acapulco and the race to Barcelona

Once the Milano P1 finishes on Sunday 18 October, the 2026 Premier Padel season has three ranking events left before the Finals in Barcelona in December, with the FIP World Cup in Doha in between. Two of those events are Majors worth 2,000 points to the winners, so the race for the last places in Barcelona is far from settled.

Kuwait, the Major nobody planned

Kuwait (26–31 October) was originally on the calendar as a P1. In May, Premier Padel and the International Padel Federation (FIP) upgraded it to a Major for the 2026 season only, as part of changes made in response to operational disruptions caused by the war in Iran, which led to the postponement of the Qatar Major scheduled for April. Pretoria was promoted from P2 to P1 under the same decision. Premier Padel chief executive David Sugden said the upgrades were made "with our players front of mind".

The FIP calendar now lists the event as the Kuwait Major. The same week, Kuwait also stages the Asia-Africa qualifier for the World Cup (26–30 October), which awards the last men's and women's places for Doha.

World Cup break in Doha

The tour pauses for the FIP World Cup, held from 2 to 7 November at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha, which will also host the 2028 edition. Sixteen men's and sixteen women's national teams take part, sharing a record €1.2 million in prize money split equally between the two competitions, the FIP said. The European qualifier in Madrid in September sent the Netherlands and Germany through in the men's event, and Great Britain and Germany in the women's.

Dubai and Acapulco

The Emaar Dubai Premier Padel P1 follows straight after, listed by the FIP from 8 to 15 November, and the Mexico Major in Acapulco runs from 23 to 29 November. Acapulco is the last chance to collect a Major-sized haul before the season finale.

The race to Barcelona

The Premier Padel Finals return to Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona from 10 to 13 December, with all matches on a single centre court. Qualification comes from the FIP Race, which counts results across the calendar year on both Premier Padel and the CUPRA FIP Tour, and 32 players (16 men and 16 women) will take part. By mid-September the FIP already counted 13 of them as certain: Arturo Coello, Agustín Tapia, Ale Galán, Fede Chingotto, Juan Lebrón and Leo Augsburger among the men, and Gemma Triay, Delfi Brea, Bea González, Paula Josemaría, Ari Sánchez, Andrea Ustero and Claudia Fernández among the women.

The official race published on 12 October, before Milan, has Tapia and Coello on 13,820 points, 2,200 clear of Galán and Chingotto (11,620), with Lebrón and Augsburger third on 5,925. Franco Stupaczuk is seventh on 4,635, while his partner Jon Sanz sits 12th on 3,459 after a late-season run to the Rotterdam and Germany finals. Mike Yanguas (4,185), Paquito Navarro (3,689), Martín Di Nenno (3,574) and Fran Guerrero (3,461) are in the same cluster.

The women's race is tighter at the top. Triay and Brea lead on 11,660, and only 20 points separate Sánchez and Ustero (9,040) from González and Josemaría (9,020). Martina Calvo (6,280) is close behind Fernández (6,925), with Sofía Araújo (4,425) and Marta Ortega (3,780) next.

What it means

With two Majors still to come, the gaps in the lower half of the qualifying places can change quickly, while the fight for top seeding in Barcelona looks like a two-pair contest in both draws. Follow the movement on our padel rankings and the Barcelona Finals page.