A new investment links a Dubai-born events company with football and sports investment experience.
- Thibaut Courtois’s NXTPLAY makes its first investment in padel.
- The partnership backs Gallop Global, promoter of Dubai’s Premier Padel P1.
- Both companies plan to develop events across international markets.
- Asia is among the regions identified for future expansion opportunities.
On a Dubai evening, the glass walls of a padel court can become a meeting point as much as a playing surface. Friends squeeze in a game after work, colleagues organise doubles matches and spectators gather around professional tournaments. Now, Dubai padel is attracting a different kind of attention too, with a new investment partnership looking beyond the court and towards the business of taking the sport worldwide.
A sport that brings people together in pairs has found a natural social rhythm in the UAE. Padel’s appeal is easy to understand: the rallies are lively, the format is sociable and beginners can enjoy a match without years of tennis experience. The International Padel Federation’s 2026 report estimates more than 40 million active players worldwide. The numbers are growing.
That momentum is now drawing investment. NXTPLAY, the sports investment and media platform co-founded by footballer Thibaut Courtois and Gonzalo Vila, has made its first investment in padel through a strategic partnership with Dubai-born Gallop Global. It’s a significant first move. Gallop is the company behind the Emaar Dubai Premier Padel P1, a fixture on the professional circuit that brings leading players and international audiences to the UAE.
For anyone who has watched the tournament at Hamdan Sports Complex, the appeal goes beyond the scoreline. Professional padel brings together the intensity of elite competition and the atmosphere of a live sporting occasion, with rallies that can keep spectators leaning forward between points. There’s a bigger business behind that energy. Gallop has built its work around creating, developing and commercialising sporting events, and now plans to grow its portfolio of event concepts and partnerships across international markets, including Asia.
The partnership brings different strengths to the table. Courtois, a multiple-time European champion, brings experience and relationships from professional sport, while NXTPLAY adds its investment and media network. Gallop contributes its event operations and commercial experience, developed through properties such as the Dubai Premier Padel P1. It’s about building beyond one tournament. The companies intend to work together on new markets, strategic partnerships and scalable event properties.
For Dubai, the deal also puts a home-grown events business in a wider conversation about the international sports economy. The city has become a familiar stop for major competitions, while its own padel community keeps growing through evening games and club matches. That local connection matters. Gallop was founded in Dubai in 2023, and its next chapter could take an event model developed here to audiences elsewhere.
The 2026 Emaar Dubai Premier Padel P1 is the next point on the calendar, with NXTPLAY joining Gallop as the tournament returns to Hamdan Sports Complex. For fans, the immediate attraction remains the action on court. For the businesses behind it, the bigger match is just getting started.
