How do amateurs play padel tournaments in Saudi Arabia?

They are the federation's national circuit of numbered "classification" (تصنيفية) tournaments, held in different cities and open to men, women and juniors. The Saudi Padel Federation (الاتحاد السعودي للبادل) is the sport's governing body in the Kingdom, and its website keeps ranking pages for each year from 2022 to 2026.

Four editions ran between May and October 2026. The numbers below are the entries the federation, its news page or the press reported.

The federation has also run events aimed squarely at amateurs. The body, then called the Saudi Padel Committee, held an "amateur classification championship" (البطولة التصنيفية للهواة) in the Eastern Province at The Padel Hub on 16 to 19 July 2025, with a women's and a men's competition. In July 2026 the federation announced the Saudi Padel Tour, a series of ranking tournaments for players in categories C and D. Its first phase starts with 9 host clubs in Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province, and the federation says later phases will reach clubs in other regions. Premier Padel's Riyadh Season P1 is a professional event you watch rather than enter, and it tends to fill searches for "بطولة بادل الرياض". Add "للهواة" or "تصنيفية" to find the amateur ones.

The federation published its 2026 calendar as a picture on its schedule page, so check it there for the next date.

Each ranking event splits the field by gender, age and level, and the groups differ a little from one edition to the next. The sixth edition (Jeddah, October 2026) listed the groups below. Earlier 2026 editions listed men's A to D, women's categories and a junior category. The Masters 40+ group and the U18 and U14 split appear in the October results.

The letters are the federation's own classification. This page doesn't claim to know exactly how a new player is placed in A, B, C or D: the federation's competitions regulation (لائحة المسابقات والبطولات) is the document to read, and it is linked from the regulations page of its site.

For women's play outside the federation, see our guide to women's padel.

For your own group you don't have to copy this system. A friendly tournament can use the self-declared padel scale of 1.0 to 7.0 that Flobit uses or simple labels such as beginner, intermediate and advanced. The padel levels guide explains the scale and how to compare it with other levels.

Start from the federation itself. As of 2 November 2026, three official routes are visible.

1. The website. Saudipadel.sa has a tournaments page with a registration section («التسجيل في البطولات»).
2. The app. The federation's app, الاتحاد السعودي للبادل, describes itself on the App Store as the official app. According to that listing, players can register for federation tournaments, pay the participation fee, follow match times and results, and check their ranking. That fee goes to the federation. Flobit never collects it.
3. The federation's contacts. The site lists an email address and a phone number for questions about categories and eligibility.

One rule change matters if you live in the Kingdom but are not Saudi. On 1 July 2026 the federation announced that foreign residents with legal residency may take part, starting from the fourth classification tournament. The notice gives the reason as raising the level of competition.

If you play at the C or D level, also watch the Saudi Padel Tour, the series of ranking tournaments for categories C and D that the federation announced on 1 July 2026. Its first phase starts with 9 host clubs in Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province.

What we could not confirm: entry fees, deadlines and the eligibility rules for each category. None appears in the pages we could read. Read the event page and the participation rules before you pay.

Ramadan padel tournaments are played at night, after the fast is broken. In Saudi Arabia, a private tournament still needs the federation's licence (see the organizing section below). Two 2026 examples show what the format looks like.

• Riyadh, 13 March 2026. King Faisal Specialist Hospital's wellness department held a Ramadan padel tournament at Padel X in Al Taawun from 8 pm to 1 am. It was an employee event, a model for a workplace night.
• Doha, 22 February to 3 March 2026. United Development Company's third Pearl Island Ramadan Padel Tournament took 32 teams, with matches from 9 pm each evening.

Ramadan 2027 is expected to begin on Monday 8 February 2027 and end around Monday 8 March 2027. Those dates are a projection that depends on the moon-sighting announcement, so don't print them on a poster until the Saudi announcement is made.

How to plan a night:

• In Saudi Arabia, get the federation's licence first: apply at least 20 days ahead and wait for approval before you announce the night or open registration.
• Start after iftar and the evening prayers, book the courts until late and set a hard stop time.
• Use short scoring so that the last match ends before the courts close. A Mexicano or an Americano keeps everyone playing, with sit-outs rotating if the numbers don't divide by four, and gives a clear end time. See the padel Mexicano guide and the padel Americano guide.
• Keep a waitlist, so that a dropout can be replaced.
• Put the finish time in the invitation.

In summer many players move to indoor or air-conditioned courts, or to late evening slots. Search behaviour shows it. On 2 November 2026, Google's Arabic suggestions for "ملاعب بادل" in Saudi Arabia included «ملاعب بادل مغلقة» (indoor padel courts) and «ملاعب بادل مكيفه» (air-conditioned padel courts), and the suggestions for "بادل الرياض" included «بادل الرياض مغلق». That shows demand; we have no data on how play changes in the heat.

What this means for an organizer:

• Pick a venue with indoor or covered courts for a summer event, or schedule the matches after sunset.
• Keep matches short. An Americano for 8 players on 2 courts needs 7 rounds for a full rotation, which is about 1¼ to 2 hours at 10 to 16 minutes a round, with changeovers.

Flobit does not book courts or say which are air-conditioned. Its venue map lists courts near you with surfaces and reviews. Book with the club, then post the match in the app.

Work backwards from the courts you can get, and in Saudi Arabia start with the licence. The full checklist is in the guide to organizing a padel tournament, and the table in tournament formats compares a bracket, groups and a round robin.

In Saudi Arabia, get the federation's licence first. In a notice dated 17 June 2026 ("requirements and procedures for issuing licences for private tournaments", «متطلبات وإجراءات إصدار تراخيص البطولات الخاصة»), the Saudi Padel Federation says its licence is a basic condition for holding any private padel tournament inside the Kingdom. You apply at least 20 days before the event, the date must not clash with the federation's official calendar, and you need its approval before you announce the tournament or open registration. The federation says that holding one without the licence is a violation. If you are not sure whether your club night counts as a tournament, ask the federation before you announce it. Its tournaments page also has a request form for friendly tournaments (طلب بطولة ودية تنشيطية).

A short version for a Saudi tournament:

1. Apply for the federation's licence at least 20 days ahead, and wait for its approval before you announce the event or open registration.
2. Choose the audience: men, women, mixed or open, and a level range.
3. Book the courts yourself, with the club.
4. Pick a rotating format for individuals (Mexicano or Americano) and groups plus a knockout for fixed pairs.
5. Cap the entries and keep a waitlist.
6. Write the rules sheet: scoring, late rule, finish time.
7. Collect any fee yourself, outside the app, and say so in the invitation.

The free Americano generator and Mexicano generator make a schedule you can paste into WhatsApp. For live scores and an automatic leaderboard, run the event in Flobit.

Flobit can run the tournament you organize and help you find players for a social game. It is not the federation, it does not give federation ranking points and it does not book courts.

What it does for amateurs:

• Tournaments. Inside a community you create a padel tournament as a bracket, a league, groups plus a knockout or a Mexicano. You choose the category (Men, Women, Mixed or Open), an age range, a cap and a waitlist, and you approve each entry. The roster message is formatted for WhatsApp and Telegram. See tournaments.
• Open matches. Post a game and let nearby players ask to join. See open matches and the guide to finding padel players in Saudi Arabia.

What it doesn't do: it doesn't book courts, doesn't collect entry fees or pay prizes (an organizer can show a fee for information and collects it offline), and doesn't create a national or city ranking. The levels you set are self-declared and the level range on a listing is guidance only.

The app is in English, Russian, Turkish, Azerbaijani and Spanish, and not in Arabic. It is free to use and has no ads. Flobit Plus is an optional subscription for advanced stats and a Plus badge. It is available on iPhone and Apple Watch, with a web app at flobit.app, and Android is coming soon.

How do I register for a Saudi Padel Federation tournament?

What are the padel categories in Saudi Arabia?

Are there padel tournaments for amateurs in Saudi Arabia?

Can women enter padel tournaments in Saudi Arabia?

When is Ramadan 2027, and when do Ramadan padel tournaments run?

Does Flobit book padel courts or collect tournament fees?

Is Flobit available in Arabic?