Dutch Pickleball League

The Dutch Pickleball League 2026

Ready for something different? On Saturday 10 October (Challenger) and Sunday 11 October (Elite) a brand-new competition format is brought to the Netherlands: the Dutch Pickleball League.

How does it work?

• 40 Challenger Players (20 men / 20 women) and 40 Premier Players (20 men / 20 women) enter individually.
• Players are ranked on their DUPR (if equal, the player who sign-up first gets picked).
• Players will be drafted in teams of 4 players, 2 men + 2 women
• The registration fee is €50, which includes your Osaka DPL Team T-shirt

Where: PassieCenter Breukelen

When: Saturday 10 October and Sunday 11 October

Registration opens: Wednesday August 12th

Registration closes: Sunday September 6th

DUPR Requirement: In order to register, all players need to have minimum DUPR 3.5

THE DRAFT

Each division consists of 10 teams of 4 players (2 men and 2 women). Teams are led by captains appointed directly by the DPL committee.

All registered players will be placed into a single draft pool and sorted by DUPR rating:

Premier Division Draft: Top 20 men and top 20 women

Challenger Division Draft: Next 20 men and next 20 women

Note: Participation is capped at the top 80 players overall (40 men and 40 women). Players outside the top 80 won’t be put in the draft pool. If people drop out, we move to positions 81, 82, etc

If you don’t have a DUPR-rating yet, but think you should be part of the DPL, you can Prior to tournament day, captains will gather in a private draft meeting to select their teams and construct their ideal team. This will be done in such a way that we create balanced teams.

You will only pay the registration fee when you are being part of the top 80 players. If this is the case, you will be sent a link to pay your registration within 3 days (72 hours).

Are you ready to be drafted?

DPL Timeline & Draft Date

Registration Open: Wednesday August 12th 20.00 CET

Registration Closes: Sunday September 6th 23:59 CET

No later than 3 Weeks Before the Event: The top 80 players (40 men and 40 women) are finalized. [On this date, you will know what level and what day you play]

No later than 2 Weeks Before the Event: The draft takes place. The 10 Premier captains and 10 Challenger captains will join an exclusive, private online meeting to select their teams.

No later than 1 Week Before the Event: Official draft results and final team rosters will be announced.

In which division will I play?

Division placement is determined automatically by your DUPR rating relative to the rest of the draft pool—players cannot select their own division.

Placement Example: If your DUPR is 4.01 and you rank as the 25th highest male player, you will enter the Challenger Division draft (as the top 20 males enter Premier).

Tournament Adjustments: To ensure competitive fairness, if needed the DPL committee reserves the right to move players between divisions.

Can I become a captain?

The DPL committee will choose which players will be the 20 captains. To be a captain, you need to be committed, have some extra free time for the draft and also want to think about how you could draft the best team

Will the results be put into DUPR?

Yes, this is a competitive event and every result will be put into DUPR. All of the results will be put into DUPR within 24 hours after the finals of the DPL.

Tournament Format

Between 10:00 and 16:00 all of the teams will play 4 group matches against other teams Every group match consists of 4 games (women doubles, men doubles and two mixed matches) and a possible dreambreaker.

A team will be awarded 3 points if they win with 4-0 or 3-1, for a 2-2 game a team will receive 2 points if they win the dreambreaker, 1 point if they lose the dreambreaker. 0 points if they lose the match with 1-3 or 0-4.

A dreambreaker singles is played at 2-2 in both the Premier and the Challenger Division.

Every game in group play will be a game played to 15 with rally scoring (every point counts).

The top 8 out of 10 teams in every division will advance to the quarter finals.

Quarter and semi-finals will be played between 16:30 and 19:30. In the quarter and semi-finals only two mixed games will be played. These games will still be rally scoring, but to 21.A team advances if they win 2-0. If it's 1-1 a dreambreaker will played.

If a team loses in the quarter finals they are knocked out of the competition, a losing semi finalist will still play for bronze.

Refunds and cancellation

If you want to unregister, a 75% refund will be given until the date of the draft. After this date, you can still unregister, but no refunds will be given. Please bear in mind that if you unregister, this affects not only you, but everyone. 80 players are needed in the draft, one or more players less and the draft isn't balanced anymore.

Every player that gets draftet into a Team gets a free T-Shirt so make sure that when you register you will also claim a T-Shirt Size. The T-shirt will be handed out during the event.

For detailed info about sizes for Women: https://osakaworld.com/collections/women-clothing-tees-jerseys/products/osaka-women-training-tee-black-1 For detailed info about sizes for Men: https://osakaworld.com/collections/men-clothing-tees-jerseys/products/osaka-men-training-tee-mesh-graphite