In 2023, football clubs worldwide reached an unprecedented level of spending on international transfers, setting a new record at $9.63 billion, as reported by FIFA in its Global Transfer Report published on Tuesday.
This marked a substantial surge of nearly 50% compared to the expenditures in 2022.
After facing declines in 2020 and 2021 due to the financial repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, transfer spending rebounded significantly, witnessing a notable increase of 48.1% from the previous year. The total spending in 2023 also shattered the 2019 record by more than $2 billion.
English clubs took the lead in spending, reaching a historic high of $2.96 billion. Additionally, four countries’ football associations received over $1 billion in transfer fees during the year.
Saudi Arabian clubs emerged as noteworthy players in the transfer market, making efforts to attract top talent from European sides to the Saudi Pro League. This trend gained momentum after the high-profile signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, prompting several players to make moves to the Middle East.
“Clubs from Saudi Arabia featured among the top five spenders for the first time with a total outlay of $970m in 2023, compared to $50.4 million in 2022,” FIFA said.
“Clubs from Germany were the number one recipients of transfer fees with a total of almost $1.21bn, the first-ever time that clubs from any one association have received more than $1 billion in transfer fees in a calendar year.
“That being said, three more associations also joined Germany in this exclusive group in 2023: France [$1.19bn], England [$1.04bn] and Italy [$1.02bn].
The top men’s transfers include Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid, Enzo Fernández from Benfica to Chelsea and Harry Kane from Tottenham to Bayern Munich.
“The top 10 player transfers alone generated more than 10% of the entire amount spent on transfer fees in 2023,” FIFA added.
In the realm of women’s football, there was a remarkable 20% surge in international transfers in the past year when compared to 2022. The involvement of clubs also witnessed an increase, rising from 507 in 2022 to 623 in 2023.
FIFA disclosed that a record-breaking 131 associations participated in 1,888 women’s transfers, constituting an annual spending of $6.1 million—an all-time high and an 84.2% surge from 2022.
Noteworthy international transfers in women’s football included Jill Roord moving from Wolfsburg to Manchester City, Kyra Cooney-Cross from Hammarby to Arsenal, and Lindsey Horan from Portland Thorns to Lyon.
It’s worth noting that a significant majority, specifically 84.7%, of these transfers involved out-of-contract women’s players.
FIFA also highlighted the movement of over 50,000 amateur players across borders to join clubs in new associations, with the majority, 91.7%, being male players. The increased activity in women’s football transfers reflects a growing dynamism and global participation in the sport.