Manny Pacquiao, the former world boxing champion, is launching a 12-team professional pickleball tour in his native Philippines. It is called the Maharlika Pilipinas Pickleball Tour (MPPT). The opening event runs on October 3 and 4, 2026, in Angeles City, Pampanga, with five events (five legs) in all. The winning team at each leg receives 1 million pesos, and across the five events the prize money totals 5 million pesos. One million pesos is about 2.5 million yen (1 peso is about 2.5 yen, mid-September 2026). With professional events appearing one after another in Asia, a famous name bringing in a community-rooted team format draws attention.
An October start, and a 12-team, five-leg framework
MPPT is made up of 12 franchise teams representing regions, touring five venues. Prize money is 1 million pesos (about 2.5 million yen) for the winning team at each leg, and 5 million pesos in total across the five events (about 12.5 million yen, 1 million pesos per leg × 5). Rather than a single champion's prize decided in one shot, the money is spread across several venues. Angeles City, where it opens, is a provincial city in Pampanga away from the capital Manila, so the tour is built to travel out from the regions and bring events to each area. The schedule and the 12-team format are confirmed in local reporting.
The teams and the players they field
One of the teams, the Parañaque Titans, fields 10 players, with accomplished names from tennis and padel and players of Philippine national caliber. Davis Cup veterans, a Southeast Asian Games gold medalist and PCL Asia champions are among them, and converts from other sports make up the core. Local business figures are involved in running the team, and confectionery and goods brands have come on as commercial partners. Teams carrying a region's name with local companies backing them is the classic team format for tying a show to the local economy.
Prize money and format at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | Maharlika Pilipinas Pickleball Tour (MPPT) |
| Founder | Manny Pacquiao |
| Number of teams | 12 (regional franchises) |
| Format | Five events in all (five legs) |
| Opening match | October 3-4, 2026 / Angeles City, Pampanga |
| Prize money (winner of each leg) | 1 million pesos (about 2.5 million yen) |
| Prize money (five events combined) | 5 million pesos (about 12.5 million yen, 1 million pesos per leg × 5) |
How it lands locally and across Asia
With Pacquiao, a national hero, named as founder, attention inside the Philippines is high. A roster gathering accomplished tennis and padel players is easy to rate well in terms of securing a standard of play. At the same time, because a new event is joining an Asian market where the PPA Tour Asia and MLP Asia are already running, how it sets itself apart from the other series comes down to how it is run from here. Community-rooted teams and widening the base by touring the provinces are MPPT's clearest features.
What opens up for Japanese players and organizers
As professional openings multiply in Asia, Japanese players gain more choices for where to compete and earn. Japanese players are already involved in leagues within the region such as MLP Asia, and with several international circuits running in parallel, a career based mainly overseas becomes easier to picture. On the organizing side, MPPT's way of binding regional teams and local sponsors around a famous name offers one template for anyone planning a commercial event in Japan. At home, tasters and one-off tournaments are still the mainstay, and team-based shows are yet to come. The first step is to watch Asia's successes from both angles: sending players out, and designing sponsorship.
Asia's market reshuffles
Team and franchise events are appearing one after another in India and the Philippines, and Asia is becoming a new growth axis for professional pickleball. Competition among several events for players, spectators and sponsors tends to push prize money and the standard of play upward. A structure where local companies back teams representing a region also leaves room to tie the sport to local promotion and tourism. For Japan, these moves within the region form an outside environment that increases the places players can go to test themselves and stirs interest in gear and broadcasting.
Related moves across Asia
In the Philippines, competition brands are emerging domestically and the market is producing more of its own (A homegrown pickleball brand in the Philippines, and what changes for Japanese players). In India, a franchise-based event settled its teams at auction and is moving toward its opening (Indian pickleball locks in eight teams at the Phuket auction, opening in October), and Japanese players have joined Asian pro leagues at captain level (Yuta Funamizu named captain as Japan's national players move in MLP Asia's first draft）。
Wrap-up: what to watch over the opening two days
MPPT plays its first leg in Angeles City on October 3 and 4. What to watch is how far converts from other sports hold up on a professional stage, and how many spectators the provincial tour can pull in. Professional events standing side by side in Asia gives Japanese players more places to test themselves. For anyone thinking about staging events at home, MPPT's first year of binding a famous name, regional teams and local sponsors is worth following for both attendance and the bottom line.
Sources
World Pickleball Magazine「Manny Pacquiao launches MPPT Philippines pickleball league」
