The world football governing body, FIFA, researched the transfer expenses of clubs in the last 10 years and discovered that football clubs have spent $48.5 billion between 2011 and 2020.
FIFA collected transfers data between 2011 and 2020 which the football governing body analyzed and confirmed that in the last decade English clubs are the highest spenders in the transfer market.
The report from the research marked the 10th anniversary of the FIFA transfer matching system which was launched in 2010. The system is used to record player transfers between clubs.
Based on the report of the FIFA’s research, Manchester City have spent the highest amount in the transfer market in the last 10 years, followed by another Premier League club, Chelsea. FIFA’s report failed to include the exact amount each club spent on transfers in the period under review.
FIFA’s report confirmed that 15,128 Brazilian players were bought and sold between 2011 and 2020 across the world which makes Brazil the country with the highest number of players involved in transfers. Football clubs have spent a record $7.070 billion on players from Brazil in the last 10 years.
Brazilian football icon, Neymar remains the only footballer that has been sold for more than $200 million since FIFA started recording transfers between clubs. The record was set in 2017 when PSG signed the Brazilian star from FC Barcelona.
According to the report, between 2011 and 2020, only 14 transfer deals cost more than $100 million. The only player within that period that was said to be involved in such deals twice is Argentina forward Angel di Maria.
In terms of leagues, clubs from the Premier League have spent the most in the transfer market in the last 10 years. Between 2011 and 2020, all Premier League clubs have spent $7.23 billion on buying players. China is second to England in terms of spending. FIFA says the Chinese Super League has spent $1.46 billion in the transfer market between 2011 and 2020.
Also, FIFA says the most popular transfer route between 2011-2020 was Brazil to Portugal (1,556 transfer deals), followed by England to Scotland (1,239 transfer deals).
In terms of profits, Portuguese clubs made the most overall profit from the sales of players ($2.956bn). While the English clubs made the highest net loss ($7.23bn), followed by China ($1.46bn).
Meanwhile, FIFA’s report says, football agents have made a whopping $3.5 billion from executing footballer transfers across the world between 2011-2020. FIFA says between the period under review, agents’ participation in deals has risen to 69.1%.
Top ten football clubs by spending and the percentage of incoming deals completed using money.
Manchester City – 130 transfers (59.2 per cent)
Chelsea – 95 (80 per cent)
Barcelona – 75 (74.7 per cent)
Paris Saint-Germain – 59 (76.4 per cent)
Real Madrid – 55 (80 per cent)
Atletico Madrid – 93 (64.5 per cent)
Manchester United – 68 (55.9 per cent)
Arsenal – 76 (65.8 per cent)
Juventus – 137 (77.4 per cent)
Tottenham – 59 (72.9 per cent)
