Why pickleball is not in the Olympics yet: the one-federation problem
Short answer: Pickleball is not in the Olympics partly because, under IOC regulations, a sport can have only one officially recognised world governing body, and pickleball still has competing ones. Unification would have to come before any inclusion process.
A November 2025 Inside the Games report describes a push by the UWPF, one of pickleball's international bodies, toward the Olympic stage.
The one-body rule
According to the report, "there can only be one officially recognised world governing body" under IOC regulations, and without that, it is impossible to begin the procedures for inclusion. The UWPF said it reached out to the Global Pickleball Federation (GPF) to propose unification. It named three pillars for an IOC-compliant federation: democratically elected leadership, transparency and accountability, and balanced continental representation so that no single nation dominates.
Timing
The report says the programme for Los Angeles 2028 was already finalised, so any inclusion would be for later Games. It also notes that world championships have been held but there is no single official world championship recognised by an international federation.
Where the sport stands
The report says pickleball started in the United States, which has more than 10 million active players by its count, and is played in over 90 countries. Our participation article has a higher, more recent US figure from SFIA.
In Europe, the EPF has said it wants one unified, IOC-compliant federation; see our report on its June 2026 vote.
This article reflects sources available on 14 October 2026. The governance situation can change quickly.
Sources
Sources checked 14 Oct 2026. Header photo: A pickleball court inside a historic glass-roofed arcade in Milwaukee, by Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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