A company backed by former Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp is set to redevelop a sports centre in Wavertree after securing planning permission. Padel FC, founded by Klopp and his son Marc, has won terms to develop the site at Liverpool Tennis Centre following a 25-year lease agreement.
Plans for New Padel Courts
The proposals, approved by the city council's planning committee, include the construction of nine new courts on the land, with six indoor and three outdoor padel courts. The facility will also feature a café, retail space, changing rooms, and social areas, all housed beneath a dome-shaped interlocking steel structure covered with plastic sheeting.
The site, which comprises five outdoor courts no longer used by the tennis centre, an overspill car park area, and two grass verges, has remained largely undeveloped since 2012. It is occasionally used for overspill parking for the nearby Dobbies garden centre.
A Growing Sport in Liverpool
Padel, a racquet sport combining elements of tennis and squash and typically played in doubles, is experiencing a boom in Liverpool. The Padel FC facility will open seven days a week, providing a year-round, all-weather sporting destination for players of all ages and abilities.
This development is part of a wider trend in the city. In February, Peel unveiled plans for the UK's first floating padel courts and club house at Liverpool Waters, and three padel courts opened at Liverpool Cricket Club in November 2023. The planning committee also approved an additional six courts off Longman Drive and Speke Boulevard.
Site Ownership and Development
Liverpool Council, the freehold owners of the site, identified the location through its leisure services department, with Padel FC named as the successful bidder in 2025. The new courts will be sheltered beneath three parallel three-storey equivalent barrel-roofed steel structures, with parking developed for 150 spaces on site.
