Over the summer, clubs across the world spent $9.76 billion on acquiring about 12,000 new players.

Both numbers were record highs, according to FIFA . Around 1,000 more players changed teams in 2025 than did in 2024, and the near-$10 billion outlay was a more-than-50% increase over the summer spending in the previous year.

Most of the money was spent by UEFA clubs: $8.5 billion, which was a $3 billion increase from just the year before. About 7,350 players joined new teams in UEFA, around 20% of those players required transfer fees to acquire, and the average price of those transfer fees was $4.27 million -- a $1.2 million per-deal average increase from 2024.

Unsurprisingly, most of that money was spent by members of the Big Five top leagues in Europe and their associated lower-down

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