The Confederation of African Pickleball is the major governing body of pickleball in the continent of Africa. It is a part of the Global Pickleball Federation that represents a vast majority of pickleball players across the globe. The association was officially founded in August 2023 and was recognised by the Association of African Sports Confederations.
Dr Kwabena Akufo is the President of the Confederation of African Pickleball. Under his leadership, 18 African nations are currently a part of the confederation. The member nations include Benin, Cameroon, D.R. Congo, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Egypt.
The efforts of the Confederation of African Pickleball has led to the sport be a part of the 13th African Games. The ten nations that took part in the competition were Benin, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. It was Kenya who dominated the pickleball event, winning every discipline of the sport except mixed doubles and men’s singles that was won by Egypt.
The African Union Sports Development has geographically divided the continent into five regions. Based on this geographic, it has been observed that as of 2024, West and East Africa have the most members in the Confederation of African Pickleball. Recently, August 17th was declared as African Pickleball Day by the confederation.
Even though notable strides have been made, the Confederation of African Pickleball has struggled with the financial demands of the sport. A number of participating players in the African Games were fortunate to be sponsored by third parties in terms of their travel. Moreover, Selkirk, the leading pickleball paddle manufacturer in the world provided paddles to a good number of players.
Pickleball continues to grow in Africa under the wing of the confederation, and is soon to inculcate more member nations by 2026.
