Bringing sports enthusiasts together through the joy of padel & five-a-side football
PLAYERS is a France-based indoor sports company bringing together two brands: LE FIVE and 4PADEL. Its venues offer five-a-side football and padel, combining high-quality facilities with accessible, inclusive sports experiences for a wide audience. The company operates a growing number of modern centers across France, each equipped with playing fields, bars, and retail spaces. With a strong community of players and a leading role in the rise of indoor padel, PLAYERS is shaping the future of recreational sports.
"We deeply value the strong commitment of the Vendis Capital team. Their close involvement ensures a clear understanding of our strategic priorities and an appropriate level of insight to support joint decision. Also, it allows them to engage directly on key matters such as M&A and financing, as well as providing us with timely and valuable support when needed."
Tony Jalinier, Guillaume Debelmas and Joseph Viéville, Founders
Investment rationale
- Market leader in leisure sports with strong positions both in foot5 and padel
- Strong value proposition for consumers with state-of-the-art facilities, full-service offering and digitalized experience
- High-performing venues with attractive paybacks and ample available whitespace in France
- Diversified stream of revenues combining court rentals, value-added services and sponsoring
- Seasoned management team with demonstrated execution capabilities
- Mission-driven company with strong social and environmental commitments
Growth Strategy
- Leverage existing leading position to capture significant share of market growth driven by growing demand for padel and foot5 in an underserved French market
- Roll-out proven concept in France ; attractive paybacks on big units and ample whitespace available
- Build barriers to entry and differentiation by concept refinements, complementary services additions and acceleration on digital transformation to further optimize customer acquisition and retention (and drive LFL sales)
- Opportunistically test international potential ; be it organically (owned centers or franchises / master franchises) or through acquisitions
- Potentially extend into adjacent categories / synergistic leisure sports