FIP promised Sweden the Juniors Championship — now held in Spain instead: ”Incredibly sad”

Sweden had been promised to host the Juniors European Championship in October. But, with just two months to go, the International Padel Federation (FIP) changed its mind, and today they released the venue: Valencia in Spain. 

In June, the news broke that Sweden would host this year's Juniors European Championships in October. The competition is played for ages 14, 16, and 18.

But now, the FIP has reversed the issue and announced FEP (The Spanish Padel Federation) as the host. The competition will be held in Valencia from 10th to 15th of October. 

”Undoubtedly this is a great international event where we can see compete for the best children of the continent, the basis of our sport. It is expected that the best national teams and the best paddle players of the continent will arrive in Valencia”, writes the FEP in a press release. 

The Swedish Padel Federation railed against the decision in a press release on Thursday. 

The press release from the Swedish Padel Federation (Translated from Swedish to English)

The FIP (International Padel Federation) announces that they will hold the Youth European Championships in October in a member country other than Sweden.

The Swedish Padel Federation received today a very sad message from the FIP regarding the organization of the Youth European Championships.

Despite a written confirmation that Sweden could organize, their board decided to place the competition in another member country.

The FIP board has decided to withdraw from the event as they claim their sports director has not made the decision clear to them. The federation has written confirmation that they can organize, but they still choose to place it in another member country.

The FIP regrets that this is putting the Federation, our partners, organizers, and players at a disadvantage and expresses their wish to co-organize a larger event next year instead, as they have full confidence in our ability to stage major competitions.

We are incredibly sad and disappointed not to be able to organize the European Youth Championship and that this announcement is coming now. At the same time, we are happy to be able to send our talented juniors there to compete against players from other countries.

The competition will occur on the same date as announced earlier, week 41. The venue will be communicated by the FIP shortly.

Padel Alto seeks FIP for a comment.