LTA Padel announces GB squads for FIP Senior World Cup 2026
• 2 minutes read
LTA Padel has revealed the Great Britain men's and women's squads who will travel to Buenos Aires for the 2026 FIP Senior World Cup between 14-19 September.
The LTA Seniors selection panel has named squads of 12 women and 13 men to travel to Argentina, picked from a record 160 applicants. Each team member was selected based on criteria which considered their competition profile and key performance factors.
Both teams will be captained by LTA National Performance Pathway Manager, Libby Fletcher, supported by Sophie Cousins with the women's team and Andrew Warren with the men's.
The full squads are:
Women:
- 40+ Angela Wood and Sophie Cousins
- 45+ Sarah Lochrie and Susie Azoulay
- 50+ Victoria Davies and Desni McIntosh
- 55+ Helen Crook and Teresa Catlin
- 60+ Sally Fisher, Ashley Mears and Rosemary Dennis
Men:
- 40+ Mike Tolman and James Southwood
- 45+ Javier Etayo Fernandez and Ben Gudzelak
- 50+ Andrew Warren, Craig Wijekoon De Silva and David Thomas
- 55+ Adrian Ezra, Keith Frith and Kingsley Harris
- 60+ Chris Warren, John Byrne and Michael Thorpe
GB women finished a highly creditable ninth out of 22 in the previous FIP Seniors World Championships in Alicante in 2024, as well as a strong eighth-placed finish at last year's FIP Euro Padel Cup in Valencia.
GB men will be looking to improve on their 19th place in Alicante, where their fate hinged on a tight 3-2 defeat to Finland in the group stage which put them into the draw for the 17th-24th positions.
Format
Although the competition format hasn't yet been announced, we do know that the age groups have been adjusted this year to include a 60+ category, with the 35+ removed. There is also no open pairs competition.
At the previous FIP Seniors World Championships, teams were drawn in groups of three according to their seeding, then from the group stage they progressed into play-offs for final positions.
Competing nations
| Women's nations (in seeding order) | Men's nations (in seeding order) |
| Spain | Argentina |
| France | Spain |
| Italy | France |
| Netherlands | Sweden |
| Sweden | Italy |
| Belgium | Netherlands |
| USA | Chile |
| Argentina | Mexico |
| Great Britain | USA |
| Brazil | Brazil |
| Germany | Belgium |
| Portugal | Australia |
| Denmark | Denmark |
| Chile | Finland |
| Mexico | Germany |
| Australia | Ecuador |
| Japan | Portugal |
| Ireland | Uruguay |
| Uruguay | Great Britain |
| Lithuania | Egypt |
| Austria (unseeded) | Qatar |
| Canada (unseeded) | Czechia |
| Ecuador (unseeded) | Japan |
| Gibraltar (unseeded) | Ireland |
| Paraguay (unseeded) | Plus best eight from the qualification phase |
| Switzerland (unseeded) |
GB captain Fletcher shared her thoughts ahead of the tournament, "The FIP Senior World Cup in Buenos Aries is set to be an amazing event in a fabulous city for the selected GB players.
"Both men's and women's teams will look to build on the success from the last few years at major events and push to achieve the highest possible finish this year.
"The selection process is becoming increasingly difficult for the selections panel, due to the ever-changing landscape of the seniors player base and the rising standards of play across Great Britain, which is obviously hugely positive for LTA Padel.
"The player base is expanding and standards are improving with every event due to more competition opportunities for seniors.
"I will travel to Buenos Aries to captain the GB teams with huge anticipation and excitement about what we can achieve."
