The popularity of Padel is growing exponentially in Finland: according to statistics, there are already more than 15,000 padel players in the country. And as of 1 September 2020, fans of this sport can also play on the six custom red MONDO Supercourt courts at the Billebeino Padel Club, which has opened its doors in Helsinki.
The Billebeino Padel Club is a training centre that boasts top-of-the-range courts: two panoramic padel courts with transparent walls free from structural elements, and four padel courts with structures that have no joints or welds.For the surfaces of its padel courts, the club has opted for the MONDO Supercourt system, specifically developed for padel in collaboration with the World Padel Tour, for which MONDO has been Official Supplier since 2015.
The courts have been customised with the colours of the club: a red surface with black markings, for a unique and striking look.
Billebeino Padel is a project conceived by Ville Leino, a former NHL hockey player, who founded the Billebeino clothing brand and is a great padel enthusiast. The philosophy behind this new club is founded upon the desire to combine padel, art and street fashion, with a view to building an entire lifestyle around the sport.
Padel in Finland owes its growing popularity to Sisko Anneli “Piukku” Kopiloff: the former javelin thrower brought her passion for the sport to her country in 2003 having discovered it while living in Spain, where she became a professional coach.
“My Spanish friends told me that they would love to come to Finland to play padel one day. I replied that unfortunately there were no courts, so they suggested I build one”, Kopiloff recalled in an interview. And this is exactly what she did: since then, she has been kept busy teaching and promoting padel.
Nearly twenty years later, Finland is home to more than 160 padel courts and over 15,000 players.
The real surge in popularity of the sport, however, has occurred in recent years: according to estimates provided by the Finnish Padel Association, by the end of 2022, padel players will have a hundred clubs and sports facilities to choose from.
There is no shortage of enthusiasm and determination to reach this goal - indeed, on 12 September, Finland even celebrated Padel Day
And against this backdrop, the Billebeino Padel Club’s decision to rely on MONDO’s extensive experience for its six cutting-edge fields is unsurprising - the club’s new partner has been developing padel fields since 2012 in collaboration with the Spanish Padel Federation and the World Padel Tour, and can boast over 13,000 MONDO-branded padel courts across the world.