International football transfer spending breaks record

By Fatih Erel

ISTANBUL (AA) - International transfer spending broke record in 2023, according to FIFA's Global Transfer Report.

In 2023, $9.63 billion was spent on international transfers, up 48.1 percent from $6.5 billion in 2022.

In 2023, 74,836 international transfers were made, an all-time record.

While the top 10 player transfers alone accounted for more than 10 percent of the total amount spent on transfer fees in 2023, the first 100 players' transfers in 3,279 transfers accounted for more than 45 percent of all money spent on transfer fees.

- Highest-paid transfers

Jude Bellingham, who transferred from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid, Enzo Fernandez from Benfica to Chelsea and Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur to Bayern Munich were among the players with the highest transfer fees, whose net transfer fees were not disclosed.

- Most transfer fee-spending countries

While England was the country that spent the highest amount of money on international football player transfers last year, with $2.956 billion, Germany was the country that earned the highest amount of money in transfers, with $1.2 billion.

Saudi Arabian clubs ranked third among the top five international transfer spenders for the first time, spending a total of $970 million in 2023, an almost 20-fold increase compared to $50.4 million in 2022.

- Turkish clubs spend $260 million on transfers in 2023

Turkish clubs spent $260 million on international player transfers last year to rank ninth in the list of countries.

Türkiye ranked 14th with $161 million among the countries earning the highest amount of transfer revenues in 2023.

Turkish clubs ranked 10th in the list with 428 players transferred from abroad in 2023 and 15th with 337 players sent abroad.

- Brazil exports the most players, Portugal imports the most

While the country that exported the most footballers last year was Brazil, with 1217 transfers, the country that received the most footballers from abroad in 2023 was Portugal, with 1017 transfers.

The highest number of transfers from one country to another last year was 414 transfers from Brazil to Portugal.

The top 10 countries that spent the most on international transfers last year are as follows:

*Writing by Selcuk Bugra Gokalp