Football clubs spent $8.59B on international transfers last year, hitting record high: Report

By Emre Asikci​​​​​​​

ISTANBUL (AA) – Football clubs worldwide spent a total of $8.59 billion on international transfer fees in men's professional football last year, according to the FIFA Global Transfer Report 2024, which was released on Thursday.

"An all-time record of 78,742 international player transfers were completed in 2024 across men’s and women’s professional and amateur football. After clubs’ spending on transfer fees set a new record in 2023 (USD 9.66 billion), the total outlay was lower in 2024 (USD 8.59 billion), but still more than 15% above the previous record set in 2019 (USD 7.33 billion)," the world football body said in the report.

The report said English football outfits topped spending and earnings in international transfers, with total expenditures of $1.88 billion and revenues of $1.34 billion.

"Almost 40% of all transfer spending in men's professional football was accounted for by the top 2.5% of transfers, which included fees of at least USD 20 million per transfer," it said.

According to FIFA's Global Transfer Report, Brazilian clubs saw the highest number of transfers in 2024, with 1,102 incoming and 1,113 outgoing deals.

"The number of clubs that spent money on incoming transfers continued to grow, reaching a record high of 1,100 clubs in 2024. Similarly, the number of clubs that received a transfer fee for at least one outgoing transfer, 1,378, also set a new record," said the report.

- Women’s football hit record spending of $15.6M

In 2024, investment in women’s professional football reached new heights, with total transfer spending hitting a record $15.6 million – more than 2.5 times the amount spent in the previous year.

"A total of 695 clubs were involved in international transfers (+11.6%), with 109 of these clubs spending money on at least one incoming transfer (+23.9%) and 124 clubs receiving transfer fees for outgoing transfers (+27.8%)," it said.

FIFA said that for the sixth consecutive year, international transfers in women’s professional football jumped 20% annually, now more than three times the number recorded in 2018, when FIFA first began tracking them.

- English clubs top spenders on incoming transfers: