The Biggest Pickleball Tournaments, Compared by Reported Size
Compare major pickleball tournaments by participant count, cumulative attendance and certified records without treating unlike figures as equal.
The 2026 Pickleball World Cup in Da Nang has the largest reported participant count among the recent editions compared here: ~5,000 across its international and national-team competitions. For spectators, the 2025 PPA World Championships and 2026 US Open each reported cumulative attendance above 60,000.
Those answers are not interchangeable. Organizers variously publish players, participants, bracket registrations, cumulative attendance or the crowd on one day. The table keeps those measures separate.
Largest recent tournaments by participant count
| Tournament edition | Reported players or participants | Reported attendance | Other scale measures | Scope of the figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pickleball World Cup, Da Nang, 2026 | ~5,000 participants | 9,000+ at the National Team Event final | 11,400+ matches; 97 courts; 64 delegations | Combined International Tournament and National Team Event |
| PPA Pickleball World Championships, Texas, 2025 | 4,400 participants | 60,246 fan visits | 6,000+ matches; players from 38 countries | Festival spanning PPA, MLP, collegiate and other competitions |
| US Open Pickleball Championships, Naples, 2026 | 3,800+ amateur and professional players | 60,000+ spectators | 6,000+ matches; 59 courts; eight days | Open event with amateur, professional and other divisions |
| USA Pickleball National Championships, Texas, 2023 | 3,500 players | ~50,000 spectators | 6,928 matches | Guinness-certified “largest pickleball tournament” record |
| USA Pickleball National Championships, San Diego, 2025 | 2,500+ players | 10,000+ total attendance | 3,900+ matches | Organizer’s post-event totals |
| English OPEN, England, 2025 | 2,350 players | Not published | 4,321 event registrations | Players reported separately from event registrations |
Data period: selected completed editions from 2023 through September 29, 2026. These are organizer or record-body reports, not audited attendance censuses. A tilde marks an approximate figure.
Pickleball World Cup: ~5,000 participants in 2026
The 2026 Pickleball World Cup ran in Da Nang, Vietnam, from August 30 through September 6. DUPR’s post-event summary reported ~5,000 participants, 11,400-plus matches, 69 categories and 97 courts across seven venues. It also reported more than 9,000 fans at the National Team Event final (DUPR).
Da Nang’s municipal news outlet reported more than 5,000 athletes at the opening ceremony and representatives from 65 national teams and territories (Da Nang News). DUPR’s post-event account instead listed 64 delegations. The difference is a reason to preserve the approximation rather than present the field as an exact count.
This total spans an international individual tournament and a national-team event, so it is broader than a single championship draw. Within that scope, it is the largest recent participant figure in this comparison.
The event received two Guinness records, but neither was for tournament size. They covered the number of countries and territories represented by athletes at one host location and the trophy’s value.
PPA World Championships: 4,400 participants and 60,246 fan visits
The 2025 Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships at Brookhaven Country Club in Texas reported 4,400 participants from 38 countries and more than 6,000 matches. Pickleball.com, reporting figures confirmed by the PPA Tour, put cumulative attendance at 60,246 fan visits (Pickleball.com). The PPA’s own recap rounded that crowd to 60,000-plus (PPA Tour).
This was more than one professional draw. The program spanned two weekends and included the MLP Cup, a collegiate championship, amateur play, juniors, adaptive wheelchair competition and other events. The total therefore measures a large tournament festival rather than one uniform field.
The 2026 edition was scheduled for November 2–8, after an MLP Nations Cup from October 30 through November 1 (official Worlds event page). Those dates were still ahead on the September 29 research date, so projected 2026 figures do not belong in a completed-event comparison.
US Open: 3,800+ players and 60,000+ spectators in 2026
The eight-day 2026 Franklin US Open in Naples reported more than 3,800 amateur and professional players, more than 60,000 spectators, over 6,000 matches and 59 tournament courts (US Open post-event release).
Its open format brings amateurs, professionals, juniors, senior professionals and wheelchair divisions into the same event. The 2025 edition had reported 3,450 players and more than 55,000 fans, making the published year-over-year increases at least 350 players and 5,000 spectators.
The PPA Worlds and US Open are effectively tied at the precision available for their crowds. The PPA-related report gives 60,246 fan visits; the US Open says only “more than 60,000” spectators. Those figures do not establish which event had the larger crowd, and neither source explains whether every attendee was counted once or whether repeat visits accumulated across days.
USA Pickleball Nationals: the published Guinness record
Guinness World Records recognizes the 2023 Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championships as the largest pickleball tournament, with 3,500 players. Guinness also lists an estimated 50,000 spectators and 6,928 matches at the weeklong Texas event (Guinness World Records).
That is a certified record, not proof that no later organizer has reported a larger field. The 2025 PPA Worlds and 2026 Pickleball World Cup subsequently published higher participant totals, but Guinness’s public record page still named the 2023 Nationals as of September 29, 2026. Guinness notes that records can change before its public pages are updated.
Nationals later changed location and scale. USA Pickleball reported 2,500-plus players, more than 10,000 in total attendance and 3,900-plus matches for the 2025 edition in San Diego (USA Pickleball). Unlike an open-entry festival, Nationals uses qualification routes including Golden Ticket results and tournament points.
English OPEN: a large indoor event
Pickleball England calls the English OPEN the world’s largest indoor tournament. Its completed 2025 figures were 2,350 players and 4,321 event registrations, up from 305 players and 694 registrations in 2019 (Pickleball England).
The two measures should not be combined. One player can enter multiple events, so registrations can substantially exceed the number of players. Pickleball England targeted more than 3,000 player registrations and 6,000 event registrations for the 2026 move to Birmingham’s NEC, but those were targets rather than final counts. The comparison therefore uses 2025.
A separate crowd record: 7,916 on one day
Cumulative tournament attendance is different from a crowd counted on one day. At the 2025 PPA Tour Asia MB Vietnam Cup, a Guinness adjudicator certified 7,916 spectators on October 4 as the largest attendance at a pickleball event at that time. Organizers said the tournament had nearly 600 players (Tuoi Tre News).
That 7,916 should not be ranked against the 60,000-plus totals from events lasting more than a week: one is a one-day attendance record, while the others accumulate attendance across many days.
The short answer
- Largest recent reported participant total in this comparison: 2026 Pickleball World Cup, with ~5,000 across two connected competitions.
- Largest tournament on Guinness’s published record page: 2023 USA Pickleball National Championships, with 3,500 players.
- Largest recent cumulative crowds in this comparison: 2025 PPA World Championships and 2026 US Open, both reporting just over 60,000 visits or spectators.
- Largest completed indoor event claimed by its organizer here: 2025 English OPEN, with 2,350 players.
“Biggest” is useful only when the unit travels with the number. Players, participants, bracket registrations, one-day crowds and cumulative attendance measure different kinds of scale.