MONDIAL JUNIOR DE PÉTANQUE 2025

Next August 2025, the city of Joliette, Quebec has the honour of hosting the prestigious World Junior Pétanque Championship. Welcoming the best junior players from more than 40 countries, this international tournament includes team competitions and accuracy challenges over 5 days of exciting action. Despite numerous cities from around the world bidding to host this event, Joliette, selected by the FIPJP (Fédération internationale de pétanque et jeu provençal), has been chosen as host. Organized by Promotions de Pétanque L.M., with support from the Canadian Pétanque Federation, this event is the newest installment of a long-standing tradition in this province. 50 years ago, the first Men's Pétanque World Championship was held in Quebec City in 1975. That landmark event was followed by the 2001 Women's World Championship in Latuque, the 2005 Junior Championship in Longueuil, and the 2018 Men's Championship in Desbiens.

Quebec was first introduced to pétanque in 1970 by the famous Jean Raffa. The sport was an immediate hit as, within a year, more than 100,000 pétanque balls were sold to the approximately 95,000 new players. Over the years, the game has continued to grow evolving from a social and friendly game to a competitive sport. To date, Quebec has over 350,000 players who are members at several clubs. The sport has spread throughout the rest of Canada and is migrating south to the United States as well. Pétanque is easy to access, allowing all young people (girls and boys) to play regardless of their social/financial status. Those wishing to take the sport seriously can attend one of the several pétanque schools that have emerged with special initiation programs for young people and more intense development programs for competitive players. In addition, several school boards and their schools have added pétanque to their physical education program to push young students towards the sport.