ZURICH: Clubs worldwide made a record 22,779 international transfers in men`s football in 2024 for a total spend of $8.59 billion, world football`s governing body FIFA said in its Global Transfer Report published on Thursday.

The figure is the secondhighest spend after a record-breaking 2023 when clubs spent $9.63 billion on international transfers.

FIFA also said a record 78,742 international player transfers were completed in 2024 across men`s and women`s professional football and amateur football.

English clubs were once again the number one spenders with $1.88 billion spent on incoming transfers while they also received $1.34 billion for outgoing players.

The most expensive international transfer was Argentina forward Julian Alvarez`s move from Manchester City to Atletico Madrid in a deal worth around 75 million eur os ($78.26 million) plus 20 million euros in potential add-ons.

The top five international transfers also include Goncalo Ramos from Benfica to Paris St-Germain, Leny Yoro from Lille to Manchester United, Joao Neves from Benfica to Paris St-Germain and Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig to Barcelona.With the top five transfers costingnolessthan a reported 55 million euros, Real Madrid`s deal to sign France forward Kylian Mbappe from Paris-St Germain for free represented a massive coup for the European champions.

PSG were the top spending European club on international transfers followed by Manchester United and Olympique Lyonnais.

Women`s football hit a record spend of $15.6 million on international transfers in 2024, more than double that of the spend in 2023 ($6.1 million).

The biggest transfer saw American side Bay FC sign Racheal Kundananji from Real Madrid for a reported $860,000 to set a then world record in women`s football.

That record was broken when Chelsea made Naomi Girma the first female million-dollar player, signing the American defender this month for a fee reported by British media to be in the region of 900,000 pounds ($1.12 million).

Bay FC and Chelsea were the top spending women`s teams followed by Barcelona and Orlando Pride.

Amateur football also saw a total of 53,679 transfers, a 4.3% increase on the previous year.-Reuters