UAE men can plan for Doha while European rivals chase places

Madrid will have 29 European men’s teams competing for two World Cup places in September. The UAE will not have to endure that uncertainty. Its men are already among the nations qualified for Doha, allowing attention to turn towards what they can achieve when the competition begins in November.

The distinction matters because the UAE earned its position on court. Nine men’s places went to the highest finishers at the 2024 World Championship, with another reserved for Qatar as host. The Emirates finished fifth, a result that continues to carry value almost two years later.

That fifth place came through victories by two pairs against Brazil. Jofre and Icardo won their match, as did Ayats and Jurado, putting the UAE ahead of Brazil, France and Chile in the final classification. For a country preparing to measure itself against international opposition again, those results provide a more useful starting point than a general ambition to compete respectably.

There was also a clear limit to that campaign. Portugal beat the UAE by two matches to nil in the quarter finals, ending its medal hopes. The response was a two to one victory over Chile in the contest for fifth to eighth places, with the wins again coming from the Jofre and Icardo partnership and the pairing of Jurado with Ayats. The UAE kept winning after its chance of a podium finish had gone.

A place in the top eight was already sufficient to put the UAE inside the automatic qualification positions. The remaining victories still mattered. They established a more demanding benchmark than merely reaching the knockout rounds, and showed that the side could respond after a disappointing defeat. Its eventual 2026 selection will inherit that fifth place as a measure against which its own results are likely to be judged.

Doha will stage the World Cup from November 2 to 7 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. The venue is familiar to followers of both national team and professional padel, having hosted the last World Team Championships and the Qatar Major. This edition brings 16 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams together, with a prize fund of €1.2 million divided equally between the two competitions.

Qatar has also been awarded the 2028 tournament, giving the national team game a settled home for the next two editions. That continuity has practical appeal for supporters in the Gulf. The same city that hosts an annual Major will also offer a chance to follow countries across successive World Cups, with the different competitions making distinct demands of players who may be familiar from the professional circuit.

In Madrid, the immediate task will be much less comfortable. Pádel G24 will host the European qualifiers from September 22 to 26, with 55 teams across the men’s and women’s competitions chasing four places in total. The men’s field includes Great Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. None can plan its November around a place in Doha with the certainty available to the UAE.

The national team format changes the way that strength is assembled. A successful regular partnership cannot always travel intact into international competition, while players who spend much of the season opposing each other may become teammates. The 2024 men’s final offered a particularly clear example. Agustín Tapia and Federico Chingotto played together for Argentina, facing Spain’s Juan Lebrón and Alejandro Galán rather than appearing beside their usual tour partners.

Tapia and Chingotto won that match in three sets to bring Argentina level after Arturo Coello and Coki Nieto had put Spain ahead. The title then went to a third pair, Tino Libaak and Leo Augsburger, who recovered from a set down to beat Paquito Navarro and Mike Yanguas. A country needed contributions from more than its most familiar names before it could lift the trophy.

That is the relevant challenge for a UAE team looking to improve. Depth has a direct competitive use when several partnerships contribute to the same tie. A strong first pair can create an advantage, but other combinations must finish the job or recover a deficit. Selection will involve deciding how the available players work together, as well as assessing their individual results.

The professional calendar will bring a different focus when the tour reaches Dubai in November. Premier Padel’s published season plan places a return to Kuwait and the UAE around the World Cup, keeping the region prominent as the year moves towards its final tournaments. Dubai’s P1 belongs to that circuit of pairs, where players compete for their own ranking points rather than a country’s finishing position.

Those points contribute to a wider season. The Premier Padel Finals in Barcelona are scheduled for December, with the leading 16 men and 16 women in the Race qualifying. A result in Dubai can therefore matter beyond the immediate trophy. The national team competition has its own conclusion in Doha, where players’ performances combine in pursuit of a title for their country.

For UAE supporters, the two events offer a chance to judge different kinds of progress. Dubai will show how individual partnerships fare in a professional tournament. Doha will ask whether a national side can produce enough winning combinations across a week. Fifth place has already secured the UAE men’s return. Improving on it will require them to progress beyond the quarter finals, where the previous campaign reached its limit. That is a demanding next step for a team which has earned the opportunity to take it.