Women's football transfer spending rose from £0.51m in 2019 to £0.88m ($1.2m); just 36 deals in 2020 involved a fee, up from 31 the previous year; Chelsea's record signing of Pernille Harder was the most expensive transfer of last year
Tuesday 19 January 2021 09:26, UK
Transfer spending in women's football almost doubled in 2020 and surpassed $1m in a year for the first time.
Last summer saw one of the busiest and most exciting transfer windows in women's football history, with a host of big names, including Lucy Bronze, Pernille Harder, Rose Lavelle and Tobin Heath, on the move.
While global figures in professional men's football - £4.14bn, down from £5.4bn in 2019 - remained comparatively high, spending rose from £0.51m in 2019 to £0.88m ($1.2m) last year in the women's game.
The data, collected by FIFA as part of their global transfer market report, showed the number of transfers involving a fee also rose from 31 to 36, with the median figure just above £8,000.
Free transfers involving out-of-contract players made up 87.6 per cent of moves, while a further 5.5 per cent were loan deals.
Last year also saw a new British record transfer in women's football after Chelsea secured the signing of Harder from Wolfsburg for a fee in excess of £250,000.
The top five transfers of the year, including Everton's signing of France international Valerie Gauvin, made up almost 75 per cent of the total spending.
