FIP World Cup 2026 Qualifiers, the World Cup dream runs through Asunción: three spots in Qatar at stake in Paraguay

Another step towards the FIP World CUP. There are 74 days to go until the World Cup in Doha and, of the 32 available spots, nine are still to be decided. Following the Toronto event dedicated to Central and North America, the FIP World Cup 2026 Qualifiers move to South America, to Asunción, Paraguay, where from 20 to 22 August the men’s and women’s national teams of Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, together with the Chile women’s team, will compete for a spot at the World Cup to be held in Doha, Qatar, from 2 to 7 November. Three spots are at stake: one in the men’s draw and two in the women’s draw.

 

At 9 am local time on 20 August (14 CEST), Uruguay-Venezuela and Chile-Ecuador, both in the women’s category, will open Day 1 in Asunción. On the same day, and not before 2 pm (19 CEST), the men’s draw will get under way with Uruguay-Venezuela and Paraguay-Ecuador. The women will then conclude the programme on 20 August with Uruguay-Paraguay and Venezuela-Ecuador, not before 7 pm (midnight CEST on August 21). The participating national teams will compete in a Round Robin format: they will be placed in a single group for each category and will play against each of their opponents to determine the final standings.

 

Once the qualifying event in Asunción is completed, two more events will complete the line-up of teams heading to Doha: the FIP World Cup 2026 Qualifiers – Europe, to be held in Madrid from 22 to 26 September, with two spots at stake in each draw, and the joint Africa-Asia tournament, which will award the final two available spots.

 

A total of 32 national teams, 16 in the men’s category and 16 in the women’s, will participate in the FIP World CUP 2026. In both draws, ten spots have already been allocated: nine to the national teams with the highest finishing positions at the FIP World Padel Championship 2024 and one to the host nation, Qatar. The qualifying event in Toronto produced the first on-court decisions: Mexico in the men’s category and the USA in both categories will travel to Doha.

 

The teams already qualified for the FIP World Cup 2026:

 

MEN: Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, France, Chile, Sweden, USA, Mexico and Qatar.

 

WOMEN: Spain, Argentina, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Brazil, Belgium, USA and Qatar.