Philippines Aims to Host Global Pickleball Championship in 2027

“We’re pitching for the first Global Pickleball Championship to be held in the Philippines,” Sherry Ann Cu, Tournament Chair of the Philippine Pickleball Federation (PPF), told ABS-CBN in a recent interview.

This ambitious goal, according to Cu, is being supported by none other than the Philippine Sports Commission, whose chairman, Pato Gregorio, is an avid pickleball player, and the Philippine Olympic Committee.

Should the Philippines be tapped to host the Global Pickleball Championship in 2027, it will be held at Helios, which Cu says will be the first indoor, multi-storey pickleball facility not only in the Philippines, but in all of Asia. It will house 25 championship courts and a 2,000-seat stadium, and will be completed by 2027—ostensibly just in time to host the Global Pickleball Championship.

The PPF, of course, successfully hosted the two-day Global Pickleball Congress, with the theme “One Global Family, Sharing Stories, Sharing Purpose.” GPF President Javier Regalado delivered the keynote, and Secretary-General Jen Ramamurthy served as guest speaker. Street pickleball was also played as part of the event, which gathered delegations from 35 different countries.

“The Philippines is very much in the heart of pickleball in the world. As a charter and founding member of the sport’s international governing body—now 76 member countries strong—the Philippines plays a key role in its global growth,” Cu noted. “We are targeting for pickleball to make it to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.”

Incidentally, the Philippines is the first country in the world recognised by its national Olympic committee and the IOC as a national sports association for pickleball. That distinction, along with pickleball’s meteoric rise in the country, makes the Philippines an excellent choice as host of the Global Pickleball Championship in 2027.