DOHA – Clubs worldwide spent a record US$9.63 billion (S$12.9 billion) on international transfers in 2023, an increase of nearly 50 per cent compared to 2022, world football’s governing body Fifa said in its Global Transfer Report published on Jan 30.
After transfer spending fell in 2020 and 2021 due to the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, outlays on players have only increased, with the 2023 total spend seeing an increase of 48.1 per cent compared to 2022.
The figure also smashed the previous record set in 2019 by more than US$2 billion, with English clubs spending the most with a new high of US$2.96 billion while four countries’ associations received more than US$1 billion in transfer fees in 2023.
England were followed by Saudi Arabian clubs who tried to draw some of the best players from European sides to the Saudi Pro League last season following the marquee signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, which saw top stars like Neymar and Karim Benzema moving to the Middle East.
“Clubs from Saudi Arabia featured among the top five spenders for the first time with a total outlay of US$970 million in 2023, compared to US$50.4 million in 2022,” Fifa said.
“Clubs from Germany were the No. 1 recipients of transfer fees with a total of almost US$1.21 billion, the first-ever time that clubs from any one association have received more than US$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 (US$1.19 billion), England (US$1.04 billion) and Italy (US$1.02 billion).”
The top men’s transfers include Englishman Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid, Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez from Benfica to Chelsea and England star Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur to Bayern Munich.
“The top 10 player transfers alone generated more than 10 per cent of the entire amount spent on transfer fees in 2023,” Fifa added.
Women’s football also had 20 per cent more international transfers in 2023 compared to 2022, with the number of clubs involved rising from 507 in 2022 to 623 in 2023.
Fifa said a record 131 associations were involved in 1,888 women’s transfers, with the annual outlay hitting US$6.1 million – also a record and an 84.2 per cent increase from 2022.
The biggest transfers in women’s football included Netherlands’ Jill Roord from Wolfsburg to Manchester City, Australian Kyra Cooney-Cross from Hammarby to Arsenal and American Lindsey Horan from Portland Thorns to Lyon.
However, 84.7 per cent of the transfers were for out-of-contract women’s players. REUTERS
