Soccer clubs spent a record $1.57 billion 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 per cent compared to January 2022. A total of $774, 300 was spent in the recent window – a new record.
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 $1.57 billion spent on transfer fees was some $230 million more than the previous January window record in 2018.
The number of transfers in men's football increased by 14.4 per cent compared to the same period in 2022, with the total value of transfer fees rising by 49.4 per cent 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 which is 57.3 per cent of total spending in January globally – followed at a considerable distance by France with $131.9m.