Clubs Spent $888 Million On Agents’ Fees In 2023 – FIFA

The World football governing body, FIFA, has estimated that clubs spent a world record $888 million on agents’ fees in international transfers in 2023.

This has broken the previous record set in 2019 in which clubs paid a total of $655 million as agents’ fees in international transfers. In 2022, clubs paid just $623 million as agents’ fees which means that there has been a 43 percent increment when compared to the amount spent in 2023.

According to the world football governing body, English clubs alone spent $280 million on agents’ fees in 2023, which makes the country the highest spenders in terms of payments to agents.

There were a record 3,353 international deals this year, according to the Football Agents in International Transfers report.

It doesn’t include local moves like Moises Caicedo’s £100 million move from Brighton to Chelsea and Declan Rice’s £100 million move from West Ham to Arsenal.

The statistics indicate that European teams accounted for 87% of the money spent on agents in 2023.

Teams in the Saudi Pro League purchased players such as Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez, and Karim Benzema for $86 million.

South Korea accounted for the highest percentage of departing transactions with 32 percent of the entire fees spent going to agents selling players at K League clubs.

For the first time in women’s football, agents’ fees exceeded $1 million. Women’s teams spent approximately $1.4 million on agents in a record 125 transfer deals.