Football transfer fees hits All time-high of $7.36b spent between June and September

All-time high of USD 7.36 billion paid on football transfer fees between 1 June and 1 September; New record of USD 696.6 million spent on agency fees; Over 10,000 mid-year transactions; New milestone; Women’s football transfers also reach new heights.

A number of all-time high numbers in both men’s and women’s football are revealed in FIFA’s International Transfer Snapshot (1 June – 1 September 2023), an examination of the international player transfer activity during the 2023 mid-year transfer window.

The 2023 mid-year window saw transfer fee spending reach an all-time high of USD 7.36 billion, up 47.2% from the 2022 mid-year window and 26.8% from the previous mid-year record established in 2019.

England topped the list in the 2023 mid-year period for spending on transfer fees (USD 1.98 billion), the number of incoming transactions (449), and the number of outgoing moves (514), according to Emilio Garca Silvero, FIFA’s Chief Legal & Compliance Officer. For the first time ever, teams from a single association have received more over USD 1 billion in the 2017 mid-year transfer window, with Germany coming in the place with USD 1.11 billion in transfer fee earnings.

With a total of USD 875.4 million, Saudi Arabia came in second in terms of spending, behind only France (USD 859.7 million), Germany (USD 762.4 million), Italy (USD 711.0 million), and Spain (USD 405.6 million). This is the first time that teams from a confederation other than UEFA have surpassed 10% of the total, with clubs from the AFC area accounting for 14.0% of the global transfer spending.

Mr. Garca Silvero said, “The number of transfers during the mid-year registration period also climbed for the sixth year in a row, with 829 transfers, of which 66 were paid transfers. With relative gains of 19.1% and 83.3%, they are both new records. With 634 transfers coming in and 565 transactions going out, Europe dominated the women’s game as well. Germany took first place in terms of incoming transfers (55), while France took first place in terms of outbound transfers (53). In comparison to the 2022 mid-year window, spending on transfer fees in the women’s game more than quadrupled, setting a new mid-year record of USD 3.0 million.

With USD 696.6 million paid during the mid-year window, agent fees also hit a record high. This brings the total for 2023 to this point to USD 853.0 million, which is more than in any other year and is 36.9% greater than in all of 2022. FIFA will release a detailed analysis of the traits of international transfers completed throughout the entire year (2023) in January 2024. Please go HERE (https://apo-opa.info/3sIsmpv) or go to legal.FIFA.com to get the whole snapshot.