A report issued by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) revealed that the record spending by clubs in the English Premier League played a crucial role in revitalizing the international transfer market in 2022. The FIFA report, published on Thursday, stated that the total spending by Premier League clubs during the 2022 transfer window reached approximately $6.5 billion. This figure reflects an increase over the past two years as football recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic but remains below the levels of 2019, when spending peaked at $7.35 billion, the year before the COVID-19 outbreak, according to FIFA's report on international transfers.
The FIFA report only considers international transfers, which registered over 20,000 transactions, but less than 3,000 of these included fees, as reported by AFP. The report mentioned that English clubs' spending "reached a record level of nearly $2.2 billion," with the Premier League witnessing six of the ten largest international deals during this period. Among these deals, Liverpool signed Uruguayan Darwin Núñez from Benfica for €75 million (approximately $82 million), plus an additional €25 million in potential bonuses, and Colombian Luis Díaz from Porto.
Manchester United also featured prominently with the signings of Brazilians Casemiro and Antony from Real Madrid and Ajax, respectively. There was also the transfer of Norwegian striker Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City, and Newcastle United's signing of Swedish player Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad.
The FIFA report noted that cross-border transfers totaled 71,002, with 21,764 at the professional level, including both men and women, compared to 49,238 in the amateur category. The year 2022 witnessed at least 20,209 international transfers in men's professional football, marking an increase of 11.6% compared to 2021 and surpassing the levels recorded in the 2019 report prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While 2021 saw 4,538 clubs involved in transfers, 2022 set a new record with international transfers involving 4,770 clubs from 182 different federations. The total number of players transferred between clubs was 17,291, representing 183 different nationalities, and 2,843 of the transactions recorded last year required transfer fees, according to AFP.
FIFA's Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Emilio García Silvero stated, "2022 saw a reversal of the negative trend that had been recorded over the past two years in club spending on player transfers, with total expenditures last year reaching $6.5 billion, an increase of 33.5% compared to the 2021 figure, but still lower than the record set in 2019." The FIFA report highlighted that the top 10 transfers in terms of financial value accounted for 12.5% of the total amount spent on transfer fees in 2022. It noted that French clubs received the largest share of transfer revenues compared to clubs from other federations, totaling $740.3 million from the 2022 transactions.
