PARIS – Clubs worldwide made a record 22,779 international transfers in men’s football in 2024 for a total spend of US$8.59 billion (S$11.6 billion), the sport’s governing body Fifa said in its Global Transfer Report published on Jan 30......CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>.....CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
The figure is the second-highest spend after a record-breaking 2023 when clubs spent US$9.63 billion on international transfers.
Fifa also said a record 78,742 international player transfers were completed in 2024 across men and women’s professional football and amateur football.
Paris Saint-Germain were the top-spending club in Europe ahead of Manchester United, Lyon, Bayern Munich and Brighton and Hove Albion. Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest were also among six English Premier League clubs in the top 20.
English clubs were once again the No. 1 spenders with US$1.88 billion spent on incoming transfers, while they also received US$1.34 billion for outgoing players.
The most expensive international transfer was Argentina forward Julian Alvarez’s move from Manchester City to Atletico Madrid in a deal worth around €75 million (S$105.6 million) plus €20 million in potential add-ons.
The top-five international transfers also include Goncalo Ramos from Benfica to PSG, Leny Yoro from Lille to United, Joao Neves from Benfica to PSG and Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig to Barcelona.
With the top-five transfers costing no less than a reported €55 million, Real Madrid’s deal to sign France forward Kylian Mbappe from PSG for free represented a massive coup for the European champions.
Women’s football hit a record spend of US$15.6 million on international transfers in 2024, more than double that of the spend in 2023 (US$6.1 million).
That increase reflected a 23.9 per cent rise in the number of clubs (109) spending money on at least one incoming transfer.
Some 2,284 international transfers of women’s professional players were recorded in 2024, an increase of 20.8 per cent compared to 2023.
It was the sixth year in a row the number of international transfers in the women’s game has grown by more than 20 per cent, climbing to more than thrice the amount in 2018 when they were first recorded.
The biggest transfer saw American side Bay FC sign Racheal Kundananji from Real for a reported US$860,000 to set a then world record in women’s football.
That record was broken when Chelsea made Naomi Girma the first female million-dollar player, signing the American defender in January for a fee reported by British media to be in the region of £900,000 (S$1.52 million).
Bay FC and Chelsea were the top spending women’s teams followed by Barcelona and Orlando Pride.
Amateur football also saw a total of 53,679 transfers, a 4.3 per cent increase on the previous year. REUTERS, AFP