FIFA TMS: record number of international transfers (14,591) and spending ($ 4.79bn) in 2016

14,591 international transfers were recorded by FIFA TMS in 2016, an increase of 7.3% compared to 2015 (13,601), said the subsidiary company of FIFA in publishing its Global Transfer Market Report 2017, published on 27/01/2017.

These movements of players from one national federation to another generated a total of $4.79bn in transfer fees (€4.6bn on 31/12/2016), an amount up 14.3% compared to 2015 ($4.19bn / €3.9bn on 31/12/2015). These are new record figures in both cases (number of transfers, and total amount spent on transfers), said FIFA TMS on 27/01/2017.

Of the 14,591 international transfers completed in 2016, 85.6% did not involve any transfer fee, while 1.5% of the international transfers completed in 2016 included compensation amounts exceeding $5m (€4.75m on 31/12/2016), added FIFA TMS on 27/01/2017.

Of the 14,591 international transfers completed in 2016:

• 66.2% were transfers of players out of contract.
• 13.7% were loan agreements.
• 11.8% were permanent transfers.
• 8.4% were returns from loan agreements.

12,464 players completed international transfers in 2016. This…