August 30 – With the summer transfer window closing tonight, data from the CIES Football Observatory shows transfer spend 13% down on the same period in 2023.
The data covered the period from 1 June to the Monday of the last week of the transfer window (28 August in 2023 and 26 August in 2024), and shows that overall transfer spending dropped from €8.18 billion to €7.08 billion.
England’s Premier League clubs still dominate the spending at €2.19 billion. Although their spending was down €270 million (-11%), it was still more than €1.2 billion higher than their closest competitors in the transfer market, Italy’s Serie A whose spending rose €130 million, a 17% increase on 2023.
Germany’s Bundesliga has seen spending drop €160 million (20%), while Span’s LaLiga and France’s Ligue 1 have remained relatively unchanged..
The Saudi Pro League who made such a dramatic entry into the transfer market last summer, have put the brakes on spending in an equally dramatic fashion, investing €657 million less than in 2023, a nosedive of 75%. The drop is really a result of Saudi’s big spending clubs already having reached their cap on foreign players.
The CIES highlight the Brasileirão as the league with the biggest relative increase in spending among the 20 most active leagues – up €87 million. This is 136% increase, mainly attributed due to the arrival of foreign capital in club ownerships.
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