How do singles (1v1) leagues work in Padelio?
Last updated 2026-07-15
Choose Singles on the first step of the create-league form and the whole league becomes 1v1 — every match is one player against one player, standings are per player, and the fixtures are a round robin where everyone plays everyone. Divisions, seasons, joining, and promotion/relegation all behave exactly as they do in a doubles league. The discipline is fixed once the league is created.
Singles is a league-level choice
Padelio leagues have a discipline: Doubles (the default, 2v2) or Singles (1v1). You pick it once, on step 1 of the create-league form, next to the name and description. Every season in that league inherits it.
This is the part that trips people up: discipline is not the same thing as the season format. In a doubles league you also choose Fixed teams or Dynamic teams per season, because those describe how players get paired into duos. In a singles league there are no duos to form, so that picker disappears — a singles league just has seasons.
| Doubles league | Singles league | |
|---|---|---|
| Match | 2v2 | 1v1 |
| Chosen at | League creation | League creation |
| Format picker per season | Fixed teams / Dynamic teams | None — seasons only |
| Standings unit | Per team (fixed) or per player (dynamic) | Per player |
| Teams tab | Shown for fixed-teams seasons | Hidden |
| Minimum participants | 4 (dynamic) / 2 teams (fixed) | 2 |
Because the discipline is locked after creation, decide up front. If your group wants both, run two leagues side-by-side — there's no penalty for that, and players can be in both.
Creating a singles league
Open Create → League and set Discipline to Singles on the first step, alongside the league name, description, and club. Continue through the form as normal: the season step will skip the fixed/dynamic picker and go straight to the season name and dates. The first season lands in Draft, same as any other league — see leagues/create for the full walkthrough and leagues/seasons-and-status for the lifecycle.
Adding players
Singles participants join as individuals — there's no team name and no "pick two players" step. Everything in leagues/add-teams applies, minus the pairing UI:
- Add players from the Members tab while the season is in Draft.
- Share the season's join code and let people join themselves.
- Add guests by name for players who aren't on Padelio yet; they can claim their results later by creating an account.
The Teams tab stays hidden for singles leagues, because there are no teams to manage.
Fixtures and scheduling
Singles seasons are scheduled as a round robin: every player is drawn against every other player. Two settings shape the size of the schedule:
- Matches per player — how many full round-robin cycles to generate. One cycle means you face each opponent once.
- Double round — doubles the cycles, so each pairing plays twice (the usual home-and-away idea).
With an odd number of players, one player sits out each round on a rotating bye, so nobody sits out twice before everyone has sat once.
The schedule preview in the generate-schedule dialog does the maths for you. If you want to sanity-check it: a single cycle of n players produces n × (n − 1) ÷ 2 matches. Eight players is 28 matches for one cycle, 56 for a double round.
You can also create singles matches manually — the create-match dialog asks for two individual players instead of two teams.
Standings, divisions, and promotion
Standings are kept per player: points, wins, losses, and matches played accumulate across the season. Scores are entered exactly as in a doubles league, by either the players or the organiser.
Divisions work without any singles-specific caveats. Split the season into tiers (Premier, Division 2, …), each with its own roster, schedule, and standings, and set Promote (top N) / Relegate (bottom N) to shuffle players between tiers when the next season is created. Divisions are a Pro feature — see leagues/divisions.
Limits
The per-season participant cap applies to singles leagues the same as doubles — 8 on the free tier, rising to 264 on Crew Pro. Since a singles participant is one player (rather than half of a pair), a free singles season holds 8 players. See getting-started/upgrading-to-paid.
Where to go next
- Setting one up? leagues/create.
- Running doubles instead, and unsure which format? leagues/fixed-teams-vs-dynamic-teams.
FAQ
- Can I switch an existing doubles league to singles?
- No. The discipline is chosen when you create the league and can't be changed afterwards — every season in that league inherits it. If you want to run both, create a second league with the other discipline; they can run side-by-side with the same group of players.
- Can one league mix singles and doubles seasons?
- No. The discipline sits on the league, not the season, so all of a league's seasons are the same. This is different from fixed vs dynamic teams, which is chosen per season in a doubles league.
- Why don't I see the fixed/dynamic teams picker?
- That's expected. Fixed and dynamic teams describe how players are paired into duos, which has no meaning in a 1v1 league. Singles leagues skip the picker entirely — they just have seasons.
- How many players do I need?
- Two. That's enough to generate a schedule, though a singles league gets more interesting with a larger field. The upper limit depends on your plan — see [getting-started/upgrading-to-paid](/docs/getting-started/upgrading-to-paid).
- Do divisions and promotion/relegation work in singles?
- Yes, identically to a dynamic-teams doubles league. Divisions group players into tiers with separate standings, and the promote-top-N / relegate-bottom-N pass runs when you create the next season.
See something off? Suggest a fix — emails support@padelio.org with the article and a prefilled subject.