January market breaks record, with more than 1.5 billion dollars invested

The (European) winter transfer market broke new spending records, with 1.57 billion dollars (R$ 8.27 billion at current exchange rates) injected in this January window, values ​​never reached before in football, according to data released in this Thursday by FIFA.

Due to the strong investments of English clubs, mainly Chelsea in recent weeks, the market has surpassed its pre-Covid standards for winter periods, surpassing the previous record, which dated from January 2018, by 230 million dollars.

The highest governing body of world football highlights in a statement that 57.3% of total worldwide expenses for the month of January correspond exclusively to English clubs, that is, 898.6 million dollars (about 835 million euros).

FIFA has not presented a balance sheet for each club, but Chelsea’s astronomical signings, which would reach more than 300 million euros this winter (Enzo Fernández, Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoît Badiashile, Noni Madueke…) have increased England’s numbers .

Some stunners. 🤭 pic.twitter.com/8XWQk57Wwi

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 9, 2023

France was the second country that spent the most, with 131.9 million dollars (122.5 million euros).

Furthermore, the transfer record was broken in the winter window, with 4,387 international moves recorded in men’s football. Women’s football also reached historic figures, with 341 signings and 774,300 dollars invested (about 719,000 euros) in January, 58.7% more than in January 2022, the previous record.

In the 2019 winter market, spending on female transfers had reached just $54,000. In four seasons, the numbers have multiplied by 14, a few months before the 2023 World Cup, which will be played in Australia and New Zealand (from 20 July to 20 August).

This January, Colombian clubs were the ones that signed the most female players (35), followed by Spanish clubs, who signed 31 female players. At the end of January, FIFA published its global report on transfers for the year 2022, which indicated a post-Covid recovery in the market with a spending of 6 billion euros, of which 2 billion corresponded to English clubs.