Clubs worldwide spent a record $9.63 billion on international transfers in 2023, an increase of nearly 50% compared to 2022, world soccer\u2019s governing body FIFA said in its Global Transfer Report published on Tuesday.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 last year\u2019s total spend seeing an increase of 48.1% compared to 2022.The figure also smashed the previous record set in 2019 by more than $2 billion, with English clubs spending the most with a new high of $2.96 billion while four countries\u2019 associations received more than $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 year following the marquee signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, which saw several players move to the Middle East.\u201cClubs from Saudi Arabia featured among the top five spenders for the first time with a total outlay of $970 million in 2023, compared to $50.4 million in 2022,\u201d FIFA said.\u201cClubs from Germany were the number one recipients of transfer fees with a total of almost $1.21 billion, the first-ever time that clubs from any one association have received more than $1 billion in transfer fees in a calendar year.\u201cThat being said, three more associations also joined Germany in this exclusive group in 2023: France ($1.19 billion), England ($1.04 billion) and Italy ($1.02 billion).The top men\u2019s transfers include Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid, Enzo Fernandez from Benfica to Chelsea and Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur to Bayern Munich.\u201cThe top 10 player transfers alone generated more than 10% of the entire amount spent on transfer fees in 2023,\u201d FIFA added.Women\u2019s football also had 20% more international transfers last year 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\u2019s transfers, with the annual outlay hitting $6.1 million \u2014 also a record and an 84.2% increase from 2022.The biggest international transfers in women\u2019s football included Jill Roord from VfL Wolfsburg to Manchester City, Kyra Cooney-Cross from Hammarby to Arsenal and Lindsey Horan from Portland Thorns to Olympique Lyonnais.However, 84.7% of the transfers were for out-of-contract women\u2019s players.FIFA also said that more than 50,000 amateur players moved across borders to join a club in a new association, with 91.7% of those being male players.(Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Clubs worldwide spent a record .63 billion on international transfers in 2023, an increase of nearly 50% compared to 2022. English clubs spent the most with a new high of .96 billion. Saudi Arabian clubs also spent significantly more on transfers, with a total outlay of 0 million in 2023 compared to .4 million in 2022. German clubs were the number one recipients of transfer fees, receiving almost .21 billion. France, England, and Italy also received more than billion in transfer fees. The top men’s transfers included Jude Bellingham, Enzo Fernandez, and Harry Kane. Women’s football saw a 20% increase in international transfers, with a record 131 associations involved in 1,888 transfers. The annual outlay for women’s transfers reached .1 million, an 84.2% increase from 2022. The majority of transfers for women’s players were for out-of-contract players. Over 50,000 amateur players moved across borders to join a club in a new association, with the majority being male players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[432,3,121,703,336,499,576,187,419,69,421,618,587,18],"class_list":["post-2634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-covid","tag-cyprus","tag-featured","tag-fifa","tag-football","tag-france","tag-germany","tag-international","tag-italy","tag-middle-east","tag-sports","tag-top","tag-womens-football","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n