The open tournament
Da Nang's World Cup week isn't only for nations. This companion event is open to everyone — drawn by skill rating — with Pro, Junior and Wheelchair draws alongside. Here's what's on, and how to enter.
What it is
The Heineken International Tournament — the “Pickleball World Cup Edition” — runs the same week as the World Cup, but anyone can enter. You play the bracket that matches your rating, so the matches stay competitive.
While the Pickleball World Cup is a country-vs-country team event, this is the open-entry draw — amateurs, pros, juniors and wheelchair athletes all compete in their own divisions across the eight days.
For Indian club players this was the realistic way to play at Da Nang — but entries closed on Jul 31, 2026 and the field is now set. 2,792 entries were registered across the six tiers, of which 2,720 were approved. What follows is a record of how the event was structured, and who is in it.
- Event
- Heineken International Tournament
- Edition
- Pickleball World Cup Edition
- Host
- Da Nang, Vietnam
- Dates
- Aug 30 – Sep 6, 2026
- Entry
- Open · drawn by rating
- Prize pool
- $500,000
- Entries closed
- Jul 31, 2026
- Entries registered
- 2,792 across six tiers
- Approved
- 2,720
The
divisions
Four families of draws. Amateurs enter by skill tier; the rest split by level and age.
Skill
Open to everyone. You enter the bracket that matches your rating, so every match is against genuinely level opponents.
Pro
The top tier — the strongest entrants go head-to-head for the pro titles, decided in the all-pro finals on the closing Sunday.
Junior
Dedicated junior brackets for the next generation — singles, doubles and mixed.
Wheelchair
Wheelchair singles and doubles, played alongside the main draws.
Entrepreneur & KOL
New for 2026 — dedicated draws for founders and business leaders, plus creators and celebrities, running alongside the amateur and pro brackets.
DUPR,
decoded
DUPR— the Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating — is the global yardstick the draw uses to seed brackets. Every player carries a single number, calculated from real match results, so you're drawn against genuinely level opponents rather than by reputation.
It runs on one scale regardless of age or gender, which is why the draw can split cleanly into skill tiers and age groups at the same time.
The short version
- One number, ~2.0–8.0. Higher is stronger; pros sit near the top.
- Results-based. Every logged match nudges your rating up or down.
- Universal. The same scale across age, gender and singles or doubles.
- Seeds the brackets. A 4.5 plays other 4.5s — closer matches, fairer medals.
When it's
played
The tournament opens the week and runs through to the all-pro finals on the closing Sunday. The bright rows are the ceremony and the finals.
Order of play per the official schedule — subject to change. The full draw, courts and exact times are confirmed on the official site.
Entries
are closed
Registration ran on a presale ladder and closed on Jul 31, 2026. The fee tiers below are kept as a record of what entry cost, and as a guide to what the next edition is likely to look like.
Entry was by DUPR rating — most Indian club players sit between 3.0 and 4.0, and you entered the bracket matching your number. Fees stepped up the longer you left it, with a flat rate for each extra event.
Fees were listed in Vietnamese đồng (₫) when we transcribed them and the portal now shows the same tiers in US dollars — $30, $40, $50 and $60 for a first event as the ladder stepped up, $20 for each additional event, and $100 first / $75 additional for the Pro draws. The two are the same money at the prevailing rate.
- Unique Chance · May 1 – 30
- 750,000₫ · +500,000₫/event
- 1st Presale · Jun 1 – 30
- 1,000,000₫ · +500,000₫/event
- 2nd Presale · Jul 1 – 15
- 1,250,000₫ · +500,000₫/event
- Last Chance · Jul 16 – 31
- 1,500,000₫ · +500,000₫/event
- Professional · Pro draws
- 2,500,000₫ · +1,875,000₫/event
Who got in
Entries by tier, from the portal's own counters. Note that the portal shows one tier at a time — the Pro tab reads “368 registered”, which is the Pro draw alone, not the event.
- Amateur
- 1,738 registered · 1,695 approved
- Junior
- 550 registered · 538 approved
- Pro
- 368 registered · 359 approved
- Heineken
- 87 registered · 87 approved
- Entrepreneur
- 46 registered · 38 approved
- Wheelchair
- 3 registered · 3 approved
- Total
- 2,792 registered · 2,720 approved
Fee tiers per the official portal — first event / each additional event, in VND as transcribed in June 2026. Entry counts read from the portal on 19 August 2026.