Danske Padel Klip
Denmark's first padel court was built in 2007 and, as far as anyone knows, never played on. Nineteen years later the country runs 250,000 recorded matches. This is how it happened — the results record where it exists, primary sources where it doesn't.
Padel arrives in Denmark twice before it arrives properly. Neither of the first two courts met the rules of the sport.
Built on the old gasworks site and imported from Spain, marketed under the name "Battle Tennis" and described as a blend of tennis and squash. It was built as pure glass, without the mandatory side fencing — and as far as the federation has been able to establish, was never actually played on.
Dansk Padel ForbundBuilt after a trip to Spain — the federation credits Christian Tage Nyvang Hansen, other accounts describe a group of Danish golf enthusiasts. Playable but, in the federation's words, a bit primitive, and short of official requirements.
Dansk Padel ForbundThe Danish Padel Association sends its first application to the international federation — president Linda Johannsen, vice-president Helle Pedersen, members Torben N. Larsen and Flemming Lauenborg, several of them with ties to Spain where they played daily. The federation dates its founding to 3 September and the application to 3 July of the same year.
It fails for a reason that needs no explanation: Denmark had exactly one court, in Fredericia, and it was unplayable. As the federation puts it, the dream of international tournaments proved to be a very long way off.
Dansk Padel Forbund"Fra 2009 og frem, har DPA ikke været aktive." The federation existed on paper and did nothing for eight years. What kept padel alive in Denmark was, in its own word, ildsjæle — individuals working separately to put the sport on the map, plus a steady trickle of Danes who first met padel on holiday in Spain.
Dansk Padel ForbundNot a padel club yet, and it matters later. Three people — Mette Nielsen, Steen Rasmussen and Jan Rask — start raising money for courts on Tåsinge with an offer to Svendborg Kommune: give us the land, we will fund and run the rest. 44 members at year end.
TTPK club history2012 is the year padel actually starts in Denmark: several courts meeting official requirements appear at once. The first Danish padel championships follow within a year or two — unofficial, and largely forgotten.
Copenhagen Municipality builds two indoor courts at Grøndal MultiCenter, adding two outdoor courts that autumn. Courts also open at Tåsinge Tennis Club and AGF Tennis. These are the first in Denmark that meet official requirements.
Dansk Padel ForbundFirst ground broken in February by the club's youngest and oldest members, Mathias Nielsen and Inge Hesseldahl; opened in August in front of more than a hundred guests. Funded by Lokale- og Anlægsfonden (1.5m kr.) and Nordeafonden (1.65m kr.) among others, as Denmark's first "tenniseksperimentarium" — several racket sports on one site. That framing is why padel got a court there at all.
TTPK club historyTåsinge hosts unofficial Danish championships in beach tennis and padel — the club's own history describes padel as "a completely new sport in Denmark". Beach tennis never takes; padel steadily gains. These are the earliest Danish padel championships of any kind, running at least as late as 2016, whose top-three placings the club posted at the time.
They predate the official DM by five years and appear in no results system. If any Danish padel history is worth recovering by hand, it is this.
TTPK club history & club FacebookTåsinge pushes Dansk Tennis Forbund to take padel seriously and develop it inside clubs rather than leaving it to commercial centres. The commercial centres win that argument in the end — but the club-based route is what put padel in front of Danish members first, and two years later it is the tennis federation that gives DPF its way back in.
By the end of 2017 Denmark has more than twenty courts. Ten years after the first one, that is the whole national stock.
TTPK club history · Dansk Padel ForbundDenmark joins the international federation, and the Danmarksmesterskab begins the following year with four classes already in place. Nothing from these editions exists in any results system — what survives is a federation news post and a screenshot.
Dansk Padel Forbund is accepted as member number 33 of the international federation, having applied on 21 August and hosted FIP president Daniel Patti and Padel Belgium president Alexandre Pavy on 5–6 November. It is also the federation's first surviving news post — the entire online record of Danish padel begins with the announcement that Denmark had been let in.
Dansk Padel ForbundA friendly against Sweden at Staffanstorp, where Padel of Sweden had four courts — Denmark drove over Øresundsbroen and won overall. The report is candid about why they went: "der ikke er så mange at spille med og mod herhjemme endnu." There weren't enough people to play against at home. Some of the national-team kit was still at the printers.
Dansk Padel ForbundBoth squads travelled; neither won a match. France and Belgium were "længder bedre" — lengths better — though Finland was close enough to take sets off. The federation is clear that winning was never the aim, it being the first time Denmark had entered anything. At the end every team was called onto the podium, Denmark included.
Dansk Padel ForbundDPF becomes an associated federation of Dansk Tennis Forbund — still independent, with its own board, but formally partnered, and specifically to reach padel inside tennis clubs. Two consequences are named in the announcement: DPF would drive the development of padel in Denmark, and it could hold its first Danish championship that same year.
The arrangement lasted twenty months. The federations dissolved it in April 2020.
Dansk Padel ForbundHeld at ProPadel in Nordhavnen with the federation's new sponsor. Every entrant needed a Setteo registration and a DPF player licence — and because most of the country had no club to join, the federation invented a cheap one-month licence so people could enter at all. Two sets plus a match tiebreak, a t-shirt on sign-up, food for everyone.
Ranked competitive padel in Denmark starts here, five weeks before the first championship.
Dansk Padel ForbundFour classes, four champion pairs, all decided on the Sunday:
Herre Senior — Emil Domela Hansen & Tore Deleuran-Skjold def. Mads Holm-Hansen & Nicolas Huusom 7-5 6-4.
Kvinde Senior — Liv Deleuran-Skjold & Anna Dabrowski def. Pernille Johannsen Pedersen & Helle Pedersen 6-4 6-3.
Mix Senior — Liv & Tore Deleuran-Skjold def. Alex Laugesen & Betina Pedersen 6-4 6-4.
Herre Senior 45+ — Tommy Bay-Hansen & Henrik Boetcher Hoejgaard def. Joakim Thörring & Jan Bitterhoff 4-6 6-3 6-4.
The championship arrives fully formed — men's, women's, mixed and a veterans' class from the very first edition. And one family takes three of the four titles: Tore Deleuran-Skjold wins the men's and the mixed, Liv wins the women's and the mixed.
Worth noting what the federation itself called it at the time: "vores første uofficielle Danmarksmesterskab" — our first unofficial Danish championship. It is remembered as the first DM, and it is where the modern lineage starts, but the people running it did not yet claim the word.
Tåsinge also builds its second padel court this summer, after capacity problems, funded partly by member bonds.
Dansk Padel Forbund results · TTPKMen: Esben Kjærgaard Hess & Nils Skajaa (Wikipedia writes him as Esben Hess-Olesen). Women: Liv Deleuran-Skjold & Anna Dabrowski retain.
In the junior boys' doubles, Mathias Hviid wins with Emil Lilleøre Madsen of Århus — the same Lilleøre who takes the senior men's title seven years later. Tåsinge renames itself Tåsinge Tennis og Padel Klub to match reality.
The championship was hosted by My Padel Club, and Liv Deleuran-Skjold and Anna Dabrowski retained the women's title they had won in 2018 — the federation confirms both facts in later posts. Junior DM in October crowns Emil Lilleøre Madsen & Mathias Hviid with gold; silver to Amalie Riisager Hansen and Anna Nevada Løndahl Henriksen, bronze to Camilla Colstrup and Maya Nørup Klünder.
Veteran DM expands to three classes. In 2018 only men's 45+ had been held — the first veterans' championship in Denmark.
Wikipedia · TTPK · DPFSixteen players, two captains and a coach fly to Lisbon. Both teams finish 8th. The men draw Spain on centre court, and lose 0–3 to Sweden — the eventual bronze medallists — but push them hard enough to visibly frustrate the Swedish commentators.
The federation's own summary is the honest one: "Landsholdet blev oprettet for 1,5 år siden. Vi startede med ingenting." The national team was eighteen months old and had started from nothing.
Dansk Padel ForbundFrom January 2020 the sport is written down. Danish padel starts the year as club play and ends it with a national circuit, five ranking lists, and 203 courts in the country.
ProPadel's club championships — billed as the 2019 edition, played in January 2020. Two classes: Mænd Seniorer and Mænd +45. Every Danish result on record starts here.
Match recordBefore a domestic circuit exists, Danish players enter Swedish events — Helsingborg Padel Open, SPT Unisport Helsingborg — usually one Dane in a pair. Sweden was years ahead, and Denmark borrowed its calendar.
Match recordThe men's list starts with continuous history in April; women follow on 1 June, mixed and MO45 on 15 June, and the BU18 youth list on 29 June. Five ranked categories inside ten weeks.
Match recordFive sanctioned events inside a month — Cartri Open, Bullpadel Open #1, SimplyDesigns Open, Odder Cup, Vinderup Open — several with entirely Danish fields. Two weeks earlier, Padel To The Medal Cup 1.0 had been the first open event with a substantially Danish draw.
Match recordDPF Padel Ligaen premieres with more than 300 players across 39 teams, first round in week 37, playoffs the following March. It is renamed Lunar Ligaen once sponsored — so the league that now runs a dozen events a year and calls itself the world's largest team padel league starts here, in the autumn of 2020.
Dansk Padel ForbundDenmark's first club team championship runs in October — Tåsinge take the U18 title through Mathias Hviid and Anders Lund, and the +45 through Søren Seiersen and Brian Lund. The league's own team championship is decided that December.
Match record · TTPK · DPFMen: Nils Skajaa & Esben Kjærgaard Hess beat Morten Brødbæk & Tobias Stemann Lau 2–0. Women: Jannie Overgaard & Betina Pedersen beat Kitte Kry Bøttcher & Julia Isabella Wiese 2–0.
Denmark ends the year with 203 courts, on the federation's own count. The 400-court milestone DPF celebrated did not arrive until July 2021. Season total: 40 events, 1,342 matches, 700 players.
Match record · corroborated by TTPKOnly 61 events all year, but the country more than doubles its court stock and the sport gains a league.
DPF Padel Ligaen takes its sponsor's name and settles into ten to twelve events a year, billing itself as the world's largest team padel league. Nationally the court count passes 402 on 31 July and 500 over the autumn holiday, up from 203 twelve months earlier — and the federation grows from 8 member clubs at the end of 2019 to 24 at the end of 2020.
The federation is still outside Danmarks Idrætsforbund at this point, standing, in its own words, on its own legs without the public support most other sports enjoy.
Match record · TTPK · DPFMen: Esben Kjærgaard Hess & Mads Elholm beat Mads Laudrup & Tobias Galskov 6-7 7-6 6-4 in the final on 4 December. Women: Gitte Haxen & Mie Skov beat Line Irby Pihl & Julia Isabella Wiese 6-3 6-4.
Match recordFyn win the Final Four at Padel Yard Reffen. The federation is careful about what it is celebrating: this is the league's second season, but its first completed finale — Covid killed the very first season's final matches before they could be played.
Dansk Padel ForbundDenmark passes 500 courts over the autumn holiday, and the federation reaches 36 member clubs. Its claim about the preceding three years is worth quoting: it knows of no sport in Danish history that has grown as sharply as padel did in 2019–2021.
At the veterans' European championship in Vilamoura, the Danish women take silver — described at the time as the best Danish padel performance abroad to date. A Danish national team had never gone that far in the sport.
Dansk Padel ForbundThree years after failing to qualify in Gent, Denmark reaches the world championships proper — the 2020 edition, postponed a year. The men finish 14th, the women 13th. At that autumn's European championship the women take 6th and the men 9th, both improvements on Lisbon.
Dansk Padel ForbundMixed: Mads Laudrup & Gitte Haxen beat Maria García-Rasmussen & Alex Loughlan 2–1.
The federation's own preview settles the early women's lineage: Liv Deleuran-Skjold and Anna Dabrowski held the title for the first two editions, 2018 and 2019, and Jannie Overgaard and Betina Pedersen took it for the first time in 2020.
Season total: 61 events, 2,619 matches, 825 new players.
Match record · DPF61 events to 394 in twelve months, a tiered ranking system, and the championship moves from December to spring.
Tiered events land in sequence — DPF100 on 27 February, DPF200 on 19 March, DPF400 on 14 April. For the first time a Danish tournament has a defined weight, and a ranking point means the same thing everywhere.
Match recordMen: Esben Kjærgaard Hess & Nils Skajaa retain. Women: Gitte Haxen & Mie Skov retain. Held in Odense — and in April, five months after the 2021 edition, establishing the spring slot the championship has kept since.
Match recordThe Danish Padel Open is staged at Royal Stage in Hillerød — the top international tour visiting Denmark for the first time.
External sourceMads Laudrup & Gitte Haxen retain the mixed title. Season total: 394 events, 13,561 matches, 3,096 new players.
Match recordThe largest influx of new players in Danish history, the arrival of a genuine top domestic tier, and the first Danes on the international tour.
The premier domestic category is introduced, running from club events up to national level.
Match recordMen: Nils Skajaa & Esben Kjærgaard Hess, a third straight. Women: Gitte Haxen & Carla Rodriguez Sanchez.
Match recordFive players, five matches, mostly qualifying at FIP Rise events in Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands — Simone Alipieva, Julia Isabella Wiese, Emil Lilleøre Madsen, Sergey Boulanov and Oliver Koch. Season total: 713 events, 33,070 matches, 6,582 new players, still the record intake.
Match recordMen: Oscar Sebber & Ricard Manchon Zugasti, the first title outside the Skajaa/Hess pairing. Women: Gitte Haxen & Maria García-Rasmussen, the partnership that goes on to dominate.
Match recordBoth national teams come home from the FEPA European championships with medals — silver for the women, bronze for the men. The federation's own headline calls them historic results, and on this occasion the word is doing real work rather than decoration.
Dansk Padel ForbundDanish men's and women's teams compete. The women beat the United States in a quarterfinal tie before losing to Belgium. 27 Danes played FIP events across the year.
The juniors reach a top-ten placing at the European junior championships in Budapest, and Veteran DM sets a participation record — close to 200 matches, the most entrants of any Danish championship to that point.
Domestic play peaks: 1,059 events, 43,323 matches — still the busiest season on record.
Match record · DPFDomestic volume plateaus while the ceiling rises. Danish players start winning internationally rather than just entering.
East against West, five matches at PadelPadel Aalborg. Not a ranked event — an invitational built to be watched, and the first time Danish padel is staged as a show rather than a draw.
Match recordDenmark ends 2024 with 1,500 courts after another record year — from roughly twenty in 2017, 203 in 2020 and 1,026 in 2022. By November 2025 the count is approaching 1,600. Lunar Ligaerne records 1,273 teams, up from the 39 that started the league in 2020.
Dansk Padel ForbundNot the first Danish entry into an existing event — the first edition of the tournament itself, in Drammen. Denmark beats Finland and Norway on the way to the finals and takes silver in both draws.
Dansk Padel ForbundMen: Oscar Sebber & Malthe Nielsen beat Nils Skajaa & Emil Okkels 2–0 in the final. Women: Gitte Haxen & Maria García-Rasmussen.
Match recordMaria García-Rasmussen wins FIP Bronze Betsson Sweden II in April with Sweden's Baharak Soleymani — the first FIP title by a Danish player in the record. In October Oscar Sebber wins FIP Bronze India with Sweden's William Släryd.
Denmark also hosts its first FIP event: the Skechers West Coast Masters at Rocket Padel Esbjerg in September. Sebber and Alex Loughlan lose the final 2-6 6-7; Haxen and García-Rasmussen reach the semifinal, and lose the final at FIP Bronze Elche. 55 Danes on tour.
Match record467 matches in a single event — the largest in the record, ahead of the 2023 HEAD Open in Aarhus at 436.
Match recordThe existing 62 federations vote Dansk Padel Forbund in as the 63rd. Membership takes effect on 1 January 2026.
This closes an arc that opened in 2009. The federation applied to the international body that year and was refused for having one unplayable court; it then lay dormant for eight years, got in under the tennis federation's roof in 2018, lost that arrangement in 2020, and spent the years after it — in its own phrase — standing on its own legs without the public support other sports enjoy. Sixteen years after the first application, Danish padel is a recognised national sport.
Dansk Padel ForbundSix matches at AL Bank Arena in Aalborg. Sebber & Laudrup beat Nielsen & Lilleøre 6-1 6-0 in the headline tie.
Match recordMen: Emil Lilleøre & Malthe Nielsen — Lilleøre, junior champion in 2019, takes the senior title seven years on. Women: Gitte Haxen & Maria García-Rasmussen. Mixed: Malthe Nielsen & Simone Alipieva, giving Nielsen two titles in the same championship.
Match recordMen first. Women first. A year after taking silver in both draws at the inaugural edition, Denmark wins the lot.
Set against the rest of the national team's record it is the whole story in one line: not qualified for the 2018 World Championships, 8th and 8th at the first European Championship in 2019, 14th and 13th in Doha, then 3rd and 2nd at the 2023 Europeans — and now two Nordic titles. Seven years from a team that, in its own words, started with nothing.
Dansk Padel ForbundGitte Haxen & Maria García-Rasmussen win FIP Bronze Mos Mosh Gallery KIF Padel Masters in May — the first FIP event on Danish soil, won by a Danish pair. Oscar Sebber reaches the semifinal at FIP Silver ESC Padel in Espoo, the furthest a Dane has gone in a Silver event in the record. 93 Danes played FIP events in 2026, against five in 2023.
Match recordDanish-majority matches. 2026 is a partial season — the record runs to 30 August.