Thibaut Courtois has spent his career stopping goals. Now his investment platform is backing a Dubai company that builds the stages where a different sport is booming. NXTPLAY, the Madrid based platform cofounded by Courtois and Gonzalo Vila, has announced a strategic investment in Gallop Global, the Dubai born company behind the Emaar Dubai Premier Padel P1. It is NXTPLAY’s first investment in padel.
A goalkeeper’s fund makes its first padel move
NXTPLAY invests in sport, media and entertainment, and its portfolio already spans football clubs, motorsport and consumer brands. Its football bets include French club Le Mans FC, Spanish side CD Extremadura and Belgian club KRC Genk, where Courtois started his career. Padel is a new vertical for the platform, and the team says it chose Gallop Global because the company has shown it can deliver major events and has a clear plan to grow beyond the UAE.
Courtois says he has followed padel for years and watches the circuit closely. He points to tournaments like the Dubai event as proof of how fast the sport is growing and the atmosphere it creates for players and fans. Gonzalo Vila, NXTPLAY’s chief executive and cofounder, says padel is a strategic vertical for the platform, and Gallop Global gives it a strong base in the sport and in the Middle East. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Dubai company behind the P1
Gallop Global was founded in Dubai in 2023, and it builds and runs sporting events and live experiences. Its flagship property is the Emaar Dubai Premier Padel P1, one of the leading tournaments on the global Premier Padel circuit. The 2026 edition is taking place at Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai, bringing the world’s top players to the city. The company works with the Dubai Sports Council, the Department of Economy and Tourism and the UAE Padel Association on the event.
Ivan Modia, Gallop Global’s chief executive and cofounder, says the partnership is an important milestone. He started the company with the ambition of building an international business that creates and owns distinctive event properties across several markets. He says NXTPLAY brings experience, relationships and a shared entrepreneurial vision, and that the backing will help Gallop Global carry out its international growth strategy and take the company into its next chapter.
Why padel, and why now
Padel is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, and Dubai has moved quickly to become one of its hubs. The city now hosts a fixed stop on the Premier Padel calendar, and the 2026 calendar spans 26 tournaments across 18 countries, including new stops in London and Pretoria. For NXTPLAY, the sport offers something football cannot: a young, fast growing audience and a calendar that is still taking shape, which leaves room for a new investor to help set its direction.
Gallop Global is already looking beyond the UAE. The company says it is advancing an international growth strategy focused on expanding its portfolio of proprietary event concepts, entering new markets and building long term partnerships. Asia is a particular focus, along with other international destinations. The aim is to create scalable event properties that can travel, rather than one off shows that stay in one city.
What Courtois’s bet means for Dubai’s sports startups
Here is the honest read. The amount is undisclosed, so nobody outside the deal knows how big this bet really is, and that matters. A small cheque buys a logo on a poster. A serious one buys a seat at the table where the calendar is planned. What is clear is the signal. A European sports investor looked at padel, looked at the Gulf, and picked a Dubai company as its way in. For Dubai’s sports and events founders, the lesson is simple. The city already wins the tournaments. The next prize is owning the events themselves, and the companies that build them. Gallop Global just got a famous name behind that idea. Now it has to show the idea can travel.
