Zurich, January 26 (BNA): The international football transfer market continued its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with a record 20,000 transfers between clubs from different countries last year, FIFA reported Thursday.
Worldwide spending totaled $6.5 billion in transfer fees for players who moved across borders between FIFA’s member associations, an increase of 33.5% from 2021, according to FIFA’s annual review of transfers.
The biggest signings in the report included Erling Haaland to Manchester City, Anthony and Casemiro to Manchester United, Aurelien Choameni to Real Madrid and Darwin Nunez to Liverpool.
But the FIFA report does not include local deals between two clubs in the same country, such as Arsenal’s purchase of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City, according to the Associated Press.
Also not included were Chelsea’s spending spree on Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Raheem Sterling, Tottenham signing Richarlison and the return of Antoine Griezmann to Atletico Madrid from Barcelona.
The international spending included $73m paid as a share of transfer fees to clubs that had previously helped develop a player aged between 12 and 23.
Brazilian players were once again the most heavily traded at the international level with 2,061 transfers more than double the next-ranked, Argentina and spending on them totaling $843.2 million.
Portuguese clubs concluded 901 player transfers, and clubs in Brazil released the largest number of players with 998 completed deals. The 338’s transmission from Brazil to Portugal was the most common route.
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