FIFA released its Global Transfer Market Report. The '18 edition is the first to feature two versions: one covering men's football and the other covering women's. The key statistics from the men’s report:
- Spending reached a new high of $7.03B, 10.3% more than in '17.
- A new record was set with 16,533 int'l transfers, 5.6% more than in '17, involving 14,186 players of 175 different nationalities.
- Only 31 clubs spent more than $50M each, but together they accounted for more than half of the $7.03B spent globally.
- Clubs in the UEFA region accounted for 78.2% of the entire spending.
Key statistics from the women’s report:
- A total of 696 int'l transfers were completed, involving clubs from 74 member associations and 614 players of 72 different nationalities.
- Spending on transfer fees amounted to $600,000, showing that the market for female professional players is still in the early stages (FIFA).
HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS: In London, Matt Hughes reported Tottenham generated almost 23 times as much money from the Champions League as it did from the FA Cup last season, with the gap between the financial value of the two competitions to the club reportedly "set to increase to a ratio of approximately 80:1 this season." Tottenham banked £63.2M as a result of qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League last season, compared to £2.8M for reaching the FA Cup semifinals. The figures for this season are projected to be about £80M ($105M) and less than £1M ($1.3M) (LONDON TIMES, 1/29).
