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International transfer fees in men’s football rose to a record $13.08 billion in 2025, according to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) annual Global Transfer Market report released on Wednesday.
FIFA reported that a record 86,158 international transfers were completed across the men’s game during the year, marking the highest figure ever recorded.
The governing body also noted significant growth in the women’s game, with 2,440 international transfers completed in 2025, an increase of 6.3 percent, while total spending surged by more than 80 percent year-on-year to $28.6 million.
Combined transfer spending across men’s and women’s football, including both professional and amateur levels, reached $13.11 billion.
FIFA said this figure was more than 50 percent higher than in 2024 and 35.6 percent above the previous record set in 2023.
In men’s professional football, English clubs once again led both spending and earnings from transfers, with $3.82 billion spent on incoming players and $1.77 billion generated from outgoing deals.
Brazilian clubs recorded the highest number of transfers overall, completing 1,190 incoming and 1,005 outgoing deals.
French players attracted the highest transfer fees globally at $1.67 billion, followed by Brazilian players at $1.21 billion.
Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea emerged as the three biggest spending clubs in 2025. Paris Saint-Germain, last year’s Champions League winners, dropped out of the top 20 spenders, a list dominated by English clubs, which accounted for 11 places.
