Chinese football clubs "splashed out" more than $450M in transfer fees last year, a spree that "helped global spending on the acquisition of players reach a record high," according to Murad Ahmed of the FINANCIAL TIMES. According to FIFA’s Transfer Matching System, the total spent on transfer fees worldwide hit $4.8B in '16, a 14.3% increase compared with the year before. The rise is "partly explained by the sudden growth of the game in China," which has become the fifth biggest-spending nation behind England, Germany, Spain and Italy. The acquisition of players was just one part of a multi-billion-dollar surge of investment into Chinese football over the past two years, sparked by President Xi Jinping’s plans (FT, 1/26). REUTERS' Brian Homewood reported the total of $451.3M spent in China compared to $168.3M in '15 and was a "seven-fold increase" on '13, the TMS said. It was also around 344% more than "the rest of Asia combined, it said." The report added, "The rapid nature of this growth is unprecedented." The spending was "almost exclusively" on players coming from European clubs, according to the TMS. The number of int'l transfers completed overall was 14,591, compared to 13,601 in '15 (REUTERS, 1/27).
EUROPEAN SPENDERS: The PA reported spending by English clubs in the global transfer market has exceeded $1B for the first time. English clubs' combined net spend on players who were previously registered with other national associations was $1.06B. It is "more than double the amount paid out by Chinese clubs." German clubs were "the greatest recipient of English clubs' money," taking a cumulative £190M, making Germany to England the top "transfer stream" in global football, with France to England second, Spain to England third and Italy to England fourth, which "underlines just how central English spending is to the global market." Spanish teams brought in the most money in fees, a total of £434M, with Italy, France, Portugal and Germany completing the top five and England in sixth place (PA, 1/27).
FRENCH CLUBS THE WINNERS?: In London, Evan Bartlett reported football clubs in France "made more collective profit last year than in any other country in the world," according to the TMS. Despite the big spending of Paris St. Germain -- bankrolled by its Qatari owners -- French clubs made a net profit of $246.2M in '16. It was from clubs in England that France made the majority of its profit -- selling players worth $227M to the Premier League, the League Championship and below. The level of spending in France "does reflect the revenue it makes elsewhere." A separate report by Deloitte last week showed that Ligue 1 clubs had a combined revenue of €1.4B for the '15-16 season, compared to €4.4B in the Premier League and €2.4B in Germany (INDEPENDENT, 1/27). Bartlett reported in a separate piece Brazil sees more int'l football transfer activity "than any country in the world." In '16, a total of 806 players left Brazilian clubs for overseas while 678 arrived -- "eclipsing the figures for the more traditionally spendthrift leagues in Europe and the Far East." While the report shows Brazil has the "busiest league system in the world when it comes to football transfers, it falls far behind competitors in terms of spending" (INDEPENDENT, 1/27).
