Two of the, undisputed, greatest football players of all time, Kun Agüero and Lionel Messi are today to be sensationally announced as the latest members of sporting royalty to take ownership of a Hexagon Cup team for the second edition of the event, which will be staged in “the padel capital” Madrid from 29 January – 2 February 2025. The team, which will be known as Krü Padel by Taktika, is a partnership between Krü Esports, owned by Kun Agüero and Lionel Messi, and Taktika Padel, the US West Coast’s leading padel operator, which is based in California.
The newly-announced team is the seventh participating in the Hexagon Cup, an event which has rapidly become the most famous competition in professional padel. With today’s big announcement, Agüero and Messi join the growing legion of other global celebrity icons to have become investor-owners of Hexagon Cup teams, including three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray, Hollywood A-Lister Eva Longoria, FC Barcelona star Robert Lewandowski and the Rafa Nadal Academy.
Agüero and Messi entering the sport is arguably Padel’s biggest moment yet…and promises to take the sport from fringe to mainstream status.
Cage 91 understands that the partnership will see Agüero take the lead from the Krü Esports side, with his Argentinean counterpart Messi playing a background role due to his playing commitments with Inter Miami CF.
In a further indication of the significance of today’s news, the US West Coast giants Taktika Padel – whose ownership group have also invested in the San Diego Stingrays Pro Padel League (PPL) team – have partnered with Agüero and Messi, as they look to cement their position as the leading American padel operator. The move by the highly-respected Gabriel Pérez Krieb, Iñigo González and Ryan Redondo-led Taktika Padel is a sure-fire sign of the company’s plans to grow the profile of the sport across the United States and worldwide.
The groundbreaking partnership struck by Agüero, Messi and Taktika Padel with the Hexagon Cup, is perfectly poised to take advantage of the huge growth that the sport has seen in recent years, and the bolt-on of an Esports business is expected to help the team and wider Hexagon brand tap into younger audiences through new, exciting forms of content for the sport.
“Make no mistake, this is a seismic day for the sport. When the greatest soccer player of all time, Leo Messi joins forces with his compatriot, the former Argentina and Manchester City legend Kun Agüero to lead a Hexagon Cup team, you know this sport is going places fast. Today’s news will do wonders for the growth of Padel in the US and worldwide. These are exciting times.” – Gabriel Perez Krieb, Founder of Taktika Padel
Cage 91 has learned that the Krü Padel team has already secured a star-studded line-up of Argentine players to challenge for honours at the upcoming second edition of the innovative tournament, which will again be held at the Madrid Arena, following the successful debut tournament which was staged at the start of the year. And in a further twist, the Argentinean team will go up against their old sporting rivals, Britain, to claim honours in the upcoming second edition, after the British-backed, Andy Murray-led TEAM Advantage won the inaugural Hexagon Cup earlier this year.
Current World Number 4, Federico Chingotto will captain the team, and will be joined by World Number 13 Claudia Jensen, a player seen as one of the most exciting young talents on tour. In a further coup for Krü Padel by Taktika, former World Number 1 Maxi Sánchez will serve as coach of the men’s team. Alongside the team’s two franchise stars Chingotto and Jensen, the remaining six players making up the Male, Female and Next Gen pairings will be chosen during the draft set for the end of October.
