The Padel Brief
Edition #287 min read
Spain. Both world titles. FIP World Cup, Doha
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Spain Win Both World Cups in Doha

Spain beat Argentina in both World Cup finals in Doha on Saturday. The men won 2-1, the women 2-0.

The men's final was shaped before a ball was hit. Spain coach Juanjo Gutiérrez sent Juan Lebrón and Aimar Goñi, born in 2005, out first, against Martín Di Nenno and Leo Augsburger, and kept Arturo Coello for the last match.

It nearly went wrong. Argentina took the first set 7-5 and led 4-2 in the second. Lebrón and Goñi won it 7-5, then ran away with the third, 6-2. Lebrón wept afterwards.

Argentina's best pair answered. Agustín Tapia and Fede Chingotto beat Paquito Navarro and Jon Sanz 6-1 6-2 in 55 minutes, which made it 1-1. Then Coello and Coki Nieto closed it, 6-3 6-2 over Tino Libaak and Gonza Alfonso.

It's Spain's fifth men's title and the first since 2021. Argentina had won the last two, in Dubai and in Doha, and have 12 in all.

Our read: Tapia and Chingotto were the best pair in Doha. Spain still won, because Gutiérrez put Coello where Argentina couldn't reach him.

The women's final was closer than 2-0. Ari Sánchez and Andrea Ustero beat Martina Fassio and Aranzazu Osoro 6-3 6-3. In the last game they were 0-40 down, won four points in a row and eventually closed it on the Star Point. Ustero, playing her first World Cup, cried too.

Then Gemma Triay and Paula Josemaría beat Delfi Brea and Claudia Jensen 6-2 6-7 6-3 in 2 h 38. Triay was playing against her own Premier Padel partner.

That's seven women's titles in a row for Spain, every edition since 2014. Carolina Navarro's team lost one set all week, and it was that one.

Source: Padel FIP, Padel FIP, Padel Addict

Quick Hits

  • Paquito's last one for Spain. Paquito Navarro, 37, played what is probably his last World Cup for Spain. His run started at Calgary in 2008 and ends with four world titles: 2008, 2010, 2021 and 2026. He keeps playing on the tour. (Padel Magazine UK)
  • Five players left out of the UAE team. Íñigo Jofre, Arnau Ayats, Enrique Goenaga, Ignacio Vilariño and Fran Jurado, Spanish players naturalised as Emirati, were ruled ineligible for Doha. FIP's rules ask for players to be born in the country, have a parent or grandparent born there, or have lived there five years. Jofre says the case is now at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. (Padel Magazine UK)
  • Galán and Chingotto stay together. Ale Galán told Marca they will keep playing together in 2027, with a new team around them. The finger injury he picked up in Milan also rules him out of Dubai, and Chingotto didn't take a stand-in partner. (Padel Magazine UK, Padel Addict)
  • Spain's grip goes beyond Doha. The FIP's World Padel Report counts 6,310 ranked players from 113 countries. Spain has 26.7% of them, and 47.9% of the 2025 top 300. (Padel Magazine UK)
  • Italy pays for its next generation. The Italian federation is putting €1,001,150 into a youth programme for 2027: 40 groups of at least seven clubs each, with at least nine training days a year for 8- to 10-year-olds. (Padel Magazine UK)

Weekend Results

FIP World Cup, Doha

Men's

  • Final: Spain def. Argentina 2-1. Lebrón/Goñi def. Di Nenno/Augsburger 5-7 7-5 6-2. Tapia/Chingotto def. Navarro/Sanz 6-1 6-2. Coello/Nieto def. Libaak/Alfonso 6-3 6-2.
  • Semifinals: Spain def. Portugal 2-0. Argentina def. Italy 2-0.
  • Third place: Portugal def. Italy 2-1.

Women's

  • Final: Spain def. Argentina 2-0. Sánchez/Ustero def. Fassio/Osoro 6-3 6-3. Triay/Josemaría def. Brea/Jensen 6-2 6-7 6-3.
  • Semifinals: Spain def. France 2-0. Argentina def. Italy 2-0.
  • Third place: Italy def. France 2-0.

Source: Padel FIP results

The World Cup in Stats

matches
255
went to three sets
51
tie-breaks
40
comebacks from a set down
28
ties decided in the third match
22
6-0 sets
74

Spain's women were untouchable. They won all 16 of their matches, 32 sets to 1 and 198 games to 37, with fourteen 6-0 sets along the way.

Spain's men leaned on one player. They lost one match all week, the second of the final. Only three of their 15 wins went to three sets, and Aimar Goñi played in all three.

The women's draw was more lopsided. It had 57 of the 74 bagels. The men's had more comebacks, 16 to 12, and more ties decided in the third match, 12 to 10.

The comeback kid. Aimar Goñi lost the first set three times in Doha and won all three: against Sweden, Portugal in the semifinal and Argentina in the final.

Source: our count from the official FIP results, 96 ties, two retirements left out

Coming Up Next

Dubai P1, 8-15 November. The finals are on Sunday 15 November. Coello/Tapia and Triay/Brea are the top seeds, with the World Cup finalists split back into their tour pairs.

  • Galán and Chingotto are out. Javi Leal and Fran Guerrero take a direct main-draw spot as the No. 6 seeds.
  • Sánchez/Ustero, fresh from their World Cup final win, are the No. 3 women's seeds.
  • The tournament has a showcase court in the Dubai Opera Garden, facing the Burj Khalifa.

(Padelstar, Padel Addict, Gulf News)

Then Acapulco and Barcelona. The Mexico Major runs 23-29 November in Acapulco, and the Finals in Barcelona close the season on 10-13 December. (Palau Sant Jordi, Guerrero state government)

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Did You Know?

Padel was invented in Acapulco, where the Mexico Major is played in two weeks. Enrique Corcuera built the first court at his home there in 1969, with walls around it.

A friend of his, Alfonso de Hohenlohe, took the idea to Spain and built the country's first two courts at the Marbella Club in 1974. Fifty-two years later, Spain holds both world titles. (LTA Padel)

Player Spotlight

Aimar Goñi

Aimar Goñi was born in 2005, comes from Pamplona and was playing his first World Cup. Spain arrived without Ale Galán, ruled out injured, and Goñi became the surprise of the week.

He played four matches with three different partners, Martín Yanguas, Arturo Coello and Juan Lebrón, and won all four. Three times he lost the first set and came back, including in the semifinal against Portugal and the opening match of the final.

A week earlier, he and Edu Alonso had reached the Kuwait Major semifinals, beating Stupaczuk and Sanz 6-1 6-2 on the way. In Doha, Gutiérrez trusted him with the opening match of the final.

Source: Padel FIP, official FIP results

Hot Take

The World Cup has too many mismatches. The FIP should cut the main event to eight nations.

Spain's women won their group matches 108 games to 9. Across the women's group stage, the losing pair won three games or fewer in 40 of 72 matches, and 11 ended 6-0 6-0. In both draws, 35 of the 48 group ties finished 3-0.

A week against the best is huge for Egypt or Indonesia, and padel needs those weeks. It doesn't need them in the main event. Split the World Cup in two: eight nations playing for the title, the rest in a second division, with the top two promoted next time. Fewer blowouts, and a reason to watch from day one.

Agree? Hit reply.

Number of the Week

32-1

Sets won and lost by Spain's women at the World Cup in Doha

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Weekly Monday issue. 3-minute read. Free. EN + ES.

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