How to set up a padel league in Padeliga

Before you start

You need the app and about ten minutes. On iPhone, Padeliga is on the App Store. On Android, open the app in Chrome and it installs in one tap, with its own icon and notifications. Leagues of 16 or fewer are free, whoever runs them, and players never pay.

Step 1: start a new league

Choose Start a new league from the home screen and give it a name people will recognise, such as the night it is played or the group it is for.

Step 2: pick a style

There are five. Pick the one that sounds like your group; padel league formats explained compares them.

• Classic: fixed pairs, everyone plays everyone, one table.
• Social: a new partner every matchday, and a table per person.
• Divisions: a box league. Play everyone in your division, then the top go up and the bottom go down.
• Champion of champions: a few small leagues, then the top two of each pair up for a knockout.
• Knockout: lose once and you are out. It can draw itself the moment the last place is taken.

Step 3: set the dates

Pick the start date and how often a matchday falls, for example every seven or fourteen days. The app shows how many matchdays that makes and roughly when the season ends. The first matchday can have extra days, which helps while people are still joining.

Step 4: choose the extras

• Scoring: best of three sets, a match tie-break to 10 as the decider, or Fast4 short sets.
• Phone numbers: ask for one, so every match gets a one tap WhatsApp button. Only people in the league can see them.
• Playtomic level: an optional question at sign up, 0.0 to 7.0. Divisions and Champion of champions can be seeded by it.
• Entry fee: an amount and how to pay it (a payment link, bank details or a note). The money goes to you or your club, never to Padeliga.
• WhatsApp group: paste the group’s invite link and members get a Join the WhatsApp group button.
• Player limit, and whether names must be full names.

Step 5: share the code or the poster

Every league has a six character join code. Share the link in your group chat, read out the code, or print the A4 poster, which has a QR code and the code printed large. Players scan or type it, then pick a name and a PIN.

Step 6: let it draw

On the start date the fixtures are drawn automatically and every player is told who they play first and by when. You can draw earlier from the Admin tab if everyone is in. Drawing locks the pairs and closes joining.

Step 7: run it from the Admin tab

The Admin tab opens on a dashboard of what needs you, and usually nothing does. From there you can move a deadline, answer a request for more time, sign off a score the other pair never confirmed, award a walkover, add or pair players, reset a forgotten PIN, post an announcement and, at the end, start the next season with the same players.

How Padeliga does it

This whole guide is Padeliga. For a club running several leagues, the club console is a separate website for staff, who log in with their work email: every league on one screen, one Needs an answer list, a club board members see on their home screen in the app, entry fees paid straight to the club, posters with QR codes and exports. Clubs get a free 90-day trial, pricing is agreed at a review based on what actually happened, and members never pay.

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