USD 48.5 Billion Was Spent On Transfer Fees

Report confirms that transfer market activity increased steadily over the past decade. FIFA has published a report on international transfers in the men’s game during the 2011-2020 period.

From 11,890 transfers conducted in 2011 to a peak of 18,079 in 2019, a total of 133,225 international transfers and loans of professional players took place, while USD 48.5 billion was spent on transfer fees during the period.

The transfers involved 66,789 players and 8,264 clubs across 200 FIFA member associations, thus underlining football’s role in the global economy.

Brazilian nationals moving to foreign clubs topped the list with 15,128 transfers, followed by Argentinian (7,444), British (5,523), French (5,027) and Colombian footballers (4,287).

During the last decade, the number of clubs conducting international transfers grew by more than 30%, from 3,167 in 2011 to a peak of 4,139 in 2019.

The list of top 30 clubs in terms of transfer fee spending was made up solely of European clubs: England (12 clubs), Spain and Italy (five each), Germany (three), France and Portugal (two each), and Russia (one).

Those 30 clubs alone spent a total of USD 22.8 billion on transfer fees, representing 47% of the global total over the decade.