The Croatian Padel Federation launched its centralized management system on January 1, 2026, transitioning its operations to Tournated after facing scalability limits with scattered DIY tools.
Every growing sports federation eventually hits a wall where makeshift systems stop working. Facing a rapid rise in padel’s popularity across Croatia, leadership found their administrative setup could no longer keep pace.
President Tomislav Margeta and COO Matej Majstorovic explored more than 10 different options before reaching out to Tournated in September 2025. A partnership was struck, and the platform went live on January 1, 2026, for the country’s leading padel organization, as reported by Tournated.
Transitioning away from a patchwork of DIY tools required a complete operational rethink. Moving from a patchwork of DIY tools into a centralized system forces you to rethink how you operate,
Matej Majstorovic noted, adding that unlearning old habits was necessary. The organization white-labelled the platform as the HPS Play Portal.
Operating a national sports body involves tracking numerous interconnected moving parts. Before the migration, management was entirely reactive, requiring staff to fix things as they broke and manually chase down mismatched data. Now, player registries, club databases, tournament brackets, and official rankings live in one consistent environment, according to Tournated.
The shift also unlocked revenue tracking that was previously scattered across disconnected channels. Management can now see participation trends and identify missed commercial opportunities across the board. Clubs and event organizers gained the autonomy to handle routine updates independently, reducing their day-to-day reliance on central federation staff.
Choosing a white-label solution allowed the organization to maintain brand control without building custom infrastructure from scratch. Building something from scratch would have taken too long, cost too much, and ultimately distracted us from what actually matters – growing the sport,
Matej Majstorovic explained.
Nikita Ribakovs noted that the federation quickly became one of the platform’s most demanding users. They continuously challenge the platform, and their feedback plays a key role in how we scale and improve,
Ribakovs stated, describing the partnership as a collaborative development loop.
