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Nabob Cup Season 1 Is Here: South Africa’s New Padel League Welcomes Players of All Levels
By Super Admin 23 Sep 2026
Tournament
Nabob Cup Season 1 Is Here: South Africa’s New Padel League Welcomes Players of All Levels
A new chapter in South African padel is officially underway as the Nabob Cup Season 1 prepares to bring together players of all levels for a new team-based padel experience.
Created by Nabob Media, the Nabob Cup has been designed to bring together beginners, intermediate players and advanced competitors, giving players the opportunity to compete as part of a team while building new connections within South Africa’s rapidly growing padel community.
The launch comes at a time when padel continues to gain significant momentum across South Africa, with new courts, clubs and competitions contributing to the sport’s growing popularity.
A League For Every Level
One of the defining features of the Nabob Cup is its commitment to creating an opportunity for players regardless of their experience.
Whether someone is picking up a padel racket for the first time or already competing at an advanced level, the Nabob Cup aims to give players the opportunity to become part of a team and compete for the inaugural Nabob Cup title.
The league will feature six teams, with the first announced teams including H&M Aces, Nabob Lions and Your Solar SA Sharks, with further teams set to be announced.
Rather than creating a competition exclusively for established players, the Nabob Cup has been structured around the idea of bringing different levels of experience together.
This means that beginners can share the court with more experienced players, creating an environment where participants can compete, learn and develop throughout the season.
More Than Just Competition
For the organisers, the Nabob Cup is about creating an experience that extends beyond the scoreboard.
The league is designed to create opportunities for players to meet people outside their usual social and sporting circles, while creating a community around the sport.
Co-founder Marco Da Costa Dias previously explained that one of the league’s central objectives is to give beginner, intermediate and advanced players the opportunity to be part of something bigger and work together towards taking their team to the top.
That community-first philosophy is central to the Nabob Cup.
The competition is intended to combine sport, networking, entertainment and community, creating an experience that players can enjoy both on and off the court.
Showcasing South African Talent
Another key ambition behind the Nabob Cup is to provide a platform for discovering and showcasing emerging talent.
Nabob Media CEO Zareef Minty said the league was created not only to provide a competitive platform, but also to shine a spotlight on talent that may otherwise go unnoticed.
“This padel cup is here to showcase the hidden talent we have in South Africa but at the same time we want to build community.”
The organisers believe that South Africa has significant potential to develop its padel talent as participation in the sport continues to grow.
The Nabob Cup therefore aims to create an environment where players can gain exposure, develop their abilities and potentially progress to bigger opportunities within the sport.
Padel’s Rapid Growth in South Africa
The launch of the Nabob Cup comes during a period of considerable growth for padel in South Africa.
According to IOL, Africa Padel opened its first club in Camps Bay in 2021 and has since expanded to 19 clubs across locations including Johannesburg, Durban, Bloemfontein, Gqeberha and Plettenberg Bay.
The country also recently hosted its first Premier Padel P1 tournament at SunBet Arena in Pretoria, bringing international-level professional padel to South African audiences.
The growth of the sport creates an opportunity for new competitions and platforms to introduce even more people to the game.
The Nabob Cup aims to be part of that next phase.
The Nabob Cup Season 1
Season 1 will bring together six teams competing for the inaugural Nabob Cup trophy.
Players will have the opportunity to compete as part of a team, meet new members of the padel community and experience a structured league environment designed to combine competition with social interaction.
For Nabob Media, the launch represents another step in its ambition to create platforms that connect sport, media, entertainment and community.
The Nabob Cup was also created following Nabob Media’s achievement of surpassing 250,000 followers on TikTok, turning the milestone into an opportunity to create a new sporting platform for its growing audience and the wider South African community.
As Season 1 gets underway, the message behind the Nabob Cup is clear:
Play. Connect. Compete. Belong.
The Nabob Cup is officially here.
