Summary of the Annual FIP General Assembly in Castellon 2019

The 29th Annual General Meeting of the International Padel Federation was celebrated on Friday the 18th.

Large participation of Federation members, confirming the continued interest of all members in the activities of the International Federation.

President Luigi Carraro opened the meeting by thanking Spain, the Consejo Superior de Deportes and the Spanish Padel Federation for their support, and especially thanked the Valencian Community Padel Federation for the exceptional organisation of the ongoing XII World Junior Padel Championship. Junior Padel World Championship.

The meeting began with the usual vote to approve the minutes of the São Paulo Extraordinary Assembly (March 2019), in which the Board of Directors was elected, and then the FIP 2018 budget was approved.

President Carraro then presented the report on the work done this year by the current FIP management, highlighting among the great results:

1. The unification of the ranking with WPT
2. The consolidation of FIP partners with the entry of two very important new sponsors,
3. The new FIP Padel Tour circuit, which allows the development of padel worldwide and always has a ranking with players from as many different nationalities as possible.
4. We then focused on important agreements with the media, starting with the agreement with Sky Sports, which will broadcast the XI European Championship (Rome, 4-9 November), and many others that will be announced in the coming weeks,
5. Members were informed of the important developments with the European Olympic Committees for the inclusion of padel in the European Championships of Krakow 2023 and also that a confrontation will soon start with the organisation of the next Pan American Championships to be held in Chile in 2023, in order to include padel between the disciplines in this case as well.
   And all this in view of our most important goal, which is to become an Olympic discipline in every sense of the word.

In this context, it was with great honour that the President and the Executive Committee announced to the membership the signing of an important agreement signed with GAISF and the ITF, the details of which will be announced in the next few days, bringing even closer the transition from observer member to permanent member of FIP within GAISF.
The FIP members unanimously acknowledged the work done so far.

As usual, all the championships held in the last few months (from the last Asunción 2018 General Assembly until today), the current World Junior Championships and the upcoming European Championships in Rome (4-9 November) were held here.

The meeting also voted to delegate to the Board, which will take up a technical evaluation commission, the awarding of the next World Championships 2020 Senior and Veteran.

Finally, it is with particular pleasure that we inform you that the Assembly voted, on the proposal of the Administrative Council, on the accession of 6 new countries to the FIP:

China, Russia, San Marino, Armenia, Egypt and Ireland.
This confirms what padel is growing in all parts of the world. Details of these countries will be announced in the next few days.

It is very important for the FIP that all items included in the meeting agenda were adopted by the General Assembly, the sovereign body of the FIP, with a large majority of votes, including those required by a two-thirds majority. This shows a unified criterion within the FIP, where the constructive spirit of the affiliated members prevails, and confidence in the Governing Board, which will continue to work hard together with all member countries for the common goals.

The meeting concluded with President Carraro's hope that the constructive spirit that characterised the meeting just held is the beginning of a new era in which Padel finds unity between all its components.