Why is “padel” suddenly everywhere in the Netherlands?

Padel is a small-court racket sport invented in Mexico in 1969, played in Spain for decades, and absolutely exploding across the Netherlands since around 2018. Padel courts (~10x20m, glass walls, four players) have replaced disused tennis courts in nearly every Dutch town. The KNLTB reports the country has gone from a few thousand padel players to over 200,000 in under a decade, putting the Netherlands second only to Spain in continental Europe by player count.

In this clip, a Dutch creator joins a Snapchat padeltoernooi with 100 other creators: “Samen met 100 andere creators deed ik mee aan het Snapchat padeltoernooi.” The first match goes their way.