Can Pickleball Take a Lesson from FIFA?

When we think of football, we picture national teams vying for world dominance under the banner of the FIFA World Cup. But that global unification didn’t happen overnight. In 1916, South America took the first step with the inaugural South American Championship – today’s Copa América. It was modest but significant: Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay laying the foundation for what would become the world’s most universal sport.

As chair of Pickleball Americas, which represents countries from Canada down to Chile, I see strong parallels between football’s century-long journey and the path ahead for pickleball. Both sports share the same DNA: simplicity of play, accessibility across generations, and a spirit of inclusivity that transcends class and geography. But the real lesson is about scale. Football only became the world’s game when it expanded beyond its regions, attracting global audiences, players, and, critically, sponsors. Pickleball must now follow the same path.

By the early 1900s, South America had caught football fever, but the rest of the world lagged behind. The breakthrough came in 1930 with the first FIFA World Cup in Uruguay. Suddenly, football wasn’t just a pastime; it became the world’s stage for competition, diplomacy, and commerce. The Cup drew fans from across continents and gave sponsors a global audience to reach.

The road was not easy. Wars interrupted competitions. Cultural divides slowed growth in Asia and Africa. Infrastructure was scarce. Yet FIFA persisted: standardizing rules, launching regional tournaments like Copa América and the European Championship, and creating a structure that allowed both grassroots programs and professional leagues to flourish.

By the 1990s, football’s global architecture was complete. The World Cup had become the most-watched sporting event on the planet, driving billions in sponsorships, broadcasting rights, and tourism. The power of football was not just its simplicity, but its ability to deliver global scale.

Pickleball now stands at a similar inflection point. Just as Copa América set football’s international foundation, the Americas Pickleball Cup, April 6, 2025, in Cozumel, Mexico, marks pickleball’s first regional consolidation. It will bring together the best talent across the Americas, while laying the groundwork for future regional Cups in Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Like Uruguay’s triumph in 1930, the Cozumel event will be more than a tournament. It will provide the scaffolding for national federations, professional leagues, and grassroots expansion. And by doing so, it will transform pickleball from a recreational pastime into a credible international discipline with commercial scale.

The Americas Pickleball Cup is not just about medals. It is about creating a unified sporting language that attracts audiences, players, and sponsors. For sponsors especially, global visibility is key. A tournament confined to one country or region limits commercial potential. But a sport with a World Cup, regional qualifiers, and billions of potential fans offers the same marketing power that has fueled FIFA’s century-long rise.

With the 2026 World Pickleball Cup on the horizon, the sport is on the verge of its own global breakthrough. It has the ingredients: accessibility, inclusivity, and explosive growth. What it now needs is the infrastructure to scale internationally and the vision to harness sponsor investment.

Just as history remembers 1930 as football’s coming-out party, 2025–26 may be remembered as pickleball’s leap onto the world stage. Football showed us the blueprint: build federations, unify rules, stage global competitions, and leverage scale to attract sponsors.

Now pickleball has the chance to write its own chapter as the next global game: accessible, inclusive, and commercially powerful.