Spending on international transfer fees over the last decade increased from $2.66 billion in 2012 to a peak of $7.35 billion in 2019, while players’ agents received $3.5 billion in commissions, a study by world governing body FIFA said.
The study said average transfer fees for players moving to a club in a different country rose steadily between 2012 and 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic strained finances and led to a drop in 2020, when $5.63 billion was spent.
In all, $48.5 billion was spent on international transfers over the past decade with the top 30 spending clubs all based in Europe.
The most spent on a player was Paris St Germain’s 222 million euros ($262.45 million) deal to bring Neymar from Barcelona in 2017.
Brazilian players were the most on the move, topping the list with over 15,000 moving between clubs in different countries.
“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,” FIFA said.
“The transfers involved 66,789 players and 8,264 clubs across 200 FIFA member associations, thus underlining football’s role in the global economy.”
via Reuters
