Clubs around the world spent 8.59 billion dollars on international transfers in 2024, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) announced in its Global Transfer Report published on Thursday.
This figure is the second-highest spending total after the record-breaking year of 2023 when clubs spent 9.63 billion dollars on international transfers.
Clubs completed 22.779 transfers in men’s football. FIFA also reported that a record 78.742 international transfers were completed last year across men’s, women’s, and amateur football.
English clubs were once again the biggest spenders, with 1.88 billion dollars spent on incoming transfers, while they also received 1.34 billion dollars for outgoing players.
The most expensive international transfer was the move of Argentine forward Julian Alvarez from Manchester City to Atletico Madrid in a deal worth approximately 78.26 million dollars, plus an additional 20 million dollars in potential bonuses.
Among the top five international transfers were also Goncalo Ramos from Benfica to Paris, Leny Yoro from Lille to Manchester United, Joao Neves from Benfica to Paris, and Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig to Barcelona.
Paris was the European club that spent the most on international transfers, although the exact amount spent by the Parisians was not disclosed. They were followed by Manchester United and Lyon.
The highest number of transfers took place between Brazilian and Portuguese clubs, totaling 485 – 262 transfers from Brazil to Portugal and 223 from Portugal to Brazil.
Women’s football reached a record spending total of 15.6 million dollars on international transfers in 2024, more than double the spending in 2023 (6.1 million dollars).
The biggest transfer in women’s football last year amounted to 862.000 dollars, which Bay paid in February for Zambian international Racheal Kundananji upon her arrival from Madrid CFF.
However, this record was broken in January this year when Chelsea paid 1.1 million dollars for the transfer of 24-year-old United States (U.S.) defender Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave.
