Football clubs spent a record $1.57 billion (£1.27bn) on transfers in the January transfer window, the sport’s world governing body FIFA said on Thursday, with an all-time high number of international deals taking place last month.
In the women’s game, the total number of international transfers also reached a new all-time high with 341 across borders, an increase of 30.2% compared to January 2022. A total of $774,300 (£637,914) was spent in the recent window — a new record.
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According to FIFA’s International Transfer Snapshot for January 2023, a total of 4,387 international transfers were completed in men’s football in January — the most since the launch of the Transfer Matching System in 2010.
The $1.57bn spent on transfer fees was some $230 million (£189m) more than the previous January window record in 2018.
The number of transfers in men’s football increased by 14.4% compared to the same period in 2022, with the total value of transfer fees rising by 49.4% compared to the amount spent in January 2022.
English clubs topped the table for spending on international transfer fees in January 2023 with a total outlay of $898.6m (£740.3m) which is 57.3% of total spending in January globally — followed at a considerable distance by France with $131.9m (£108.7m).