beIN MEDIA GROUP (“beIN”) and its flagship channel beIN SPORTS have secured the exclusive rights to Premier Padel – the official new global padel tour – across the 24 countries of the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region. 

beIN has agreed to an initial one-year deal to broadcast the 2022 season with the option of extending the deal further. This agreement means padel fans across the 24 countries of the MENA region will be able to enjoy at least 10 Premier Padel tour events this campaign starting with tomorrow’s first category one event of the tour, the Ooredoo Qatar Major 2022, taking place at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex from 28 March to 2 April 2022.

The beIN SPORTS MENA deal covers the following territories: Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.

Padel fans in the MENA region will be able to tune into beIN SPORTS 6 daily from 15:30 MECCA, 12:30 GMT for Arabic commentary and beIN SPORTS 2 ENGLISH for English commentary. 

Duncan Walkinshaw, Acting Director of Programs at beIN MENA said: “We’re delighted to add one of the fastest growing sports in the world to our programme line-up at beIN SPORTS in MENA. The MENA region has embraced padel and it is fantastic news that beIN SPORTS has secured the rights to broadcast Premier Padel – giving the tour global reach. We can’t wait to get going tomorrow with the Ooredoo Qatar Major 2022 which will see the world’s top players battle it out to become the inaugural winners of a Premier Padel tour event.” 

Premier Padel is the official global padel tour governed by the International Padel Federation (FIP) and backed by the Professional Padel Association (PPA) and Qatar Sports Investments (QSI).

Padel is one of the fastest growing sports in the world with over 25 million players globally (a figure that has doubled in the past 5 years), with participation equally split between men and women, spanning all ages and backgrounds. In several territories, the sport is second only to football in terms of popularity. The sport is particularly popular across the MENA region.

Registrations for the Ooredoo Qatar Major 2022 have already seen records broken, with 123 pairs registered including players from 19 different countries. The prize money for each Major – which is also a record – has been disclosed as €525,000 for each tournament making Monday’s Ooredoo Qatar Major 2022 the one of the most lucrative events in the sport’s history.