ZURICH: Clubs worldwide made a record 22,779 international transfers in men’s football in 2024 for a total spend of $8.59 billion, world football’s governing body FIFA said in its Global Transfer Report published on Thursday.
The figure is the second-highest spend after a record-breaking 2023 when clubs spent $9.63 billion on international transfers.
FIFA also said a record 78,742 international player transfers were completed in 2024 across men’s and women’s professional football and amateur football.
English clubs were once again the number one spenders with $1.88 billion spent on incoming transfers while they also received $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 euros ($78.26 million) plus 20 million euros in potential add-ons.
The top five international transfers also include Goncalo Ramos from Benfica to Paris St-Germain, Leny Yoro from Lille to Manchester United, Joao Neves from Benfica to Paris St-Germain and Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig to Barcelona.
With the top five transfers costing no less than a reported 55 million euros, Real Madrid’s deal to sign France forward Kylian Mbappe from Paris-St Germain for free represented a massive coup for the European champions.
PSG were the top-spending European club on international transfers followed by Manchester United and Olympique Lyonnais.
Women’s football hit a record spend of $15.6 million on international transfers in 2024, more than double that of the spend in 2023 ($6.1 million).
The biggest transfer saw American side Bay FC sign Racheal Kundananji from Real Madrid for a reported $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 this month for a fee reported by British media to be in the region of 900,000 pounds ($1.12 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% increase on the previous year.
Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2025