The World Football Association FIFA issued a shocking report on Wednesday afternoon, which shows that many European competitions have been completely run wild. When drawing up the balance after closing the transferwindow (in some countries, deals are still possible) it is already clear that around 8.4 billion (!) EURO has been spent on buying new players.
The number of transfers in both men’s football (12,000) and in women’s football (1100) also sets new records. Although the European Football Association introduced the Financial Fair Play system years ago to prevent excesses and thoughtless policies, that does not seem to offer any brakes on the gigantic expenses of football clubs.
FIFA refers to ‘growth of the international player market’
FIFA itself calls it a ‘growth in the international player market’, both for men and the women. But those who consider that the expenditures of this summer transferwindow are almost 50 percent higher than those of a year ago (2024), understand that the football industry has also ended up in a major risk area.
FIFA offers clubs and football fans the opportunity to watch the transfer platform.
There you can see exactly which amounts have been spent per region and country and which trend can be observed in the past five seasons. It is not surprising that England with the Premier League has once again strengthened its position as the world’s largest investor in players.
From PSV and Ajax to Telstar and Volendam: these are all summer transfers in the Eredivisie
Expenditure on Premier League
Do you want to know the amount that the English have spent on transfer fees? Hold on: 2.6 billion euros!
Between Liverpool record purchase Alexander Isak and Newcastle United it will never be fine again
Then there is of course also a income flow at all clubs. If we add up the total incoming transfers than occupies England with Portugal and Brazil the first three places on the world ranking.
Professional women’s football had a particularly strong growth with more than 1100 completed transfers. The expenditure on transfer sums 10 million euros, an increase of more than 80% compared to mid -2024.
Emilio Garcia Silvero © ANP/HH
The US emerged as the largest spender, with an investment of more than 3.5 million euros, the highest amount ever reported for women’s football. The leading competitions in women’s football in terms of the number of incoming transfers were Germany, England and the US.
“We have observed a transfer market in full swing in both men and women’s football,” says Emilio Garcia Silvero, head of legal affairs of FIFA. , The rising figures in women’s football are remarkable because they confirm the exponential growth of women’s football at club level. ”