Spending in women's game hits new high in 2025

A record £20.7m ($28.6m) was spent globally on transfers in the women's professional game in 2025 - an increase of 83.6% from 2024 - according to a report published by Fifa.

There was an increase in the total number of cross-border transfers, with 2,440 completed in 2025, up 6.3% on the previous year.

But the report does not take into account deals done between teams in the same league, therefore, the actual total spend would be much higher.

The number of clubs involved in transfers with fees also reached a new high, with 135 clubs spending money and 155 clubs receiving fees from at least one outgoing player in 2025.

England was responsible for the biggest outlay on transfer fees at £7.9m ($11m), with clubs bringing in a total of £1.5m ($2.1m) through sales.

The USA was the next biggest spender at £5.8m ($7.9m).

Grace Geyoro's move from Paris St-Germain to Women's Super League side London City Lionesses for a reported world record £1.4m ($1.9m) in September was the biggest single transaction.

Of the five top transfer fees handed over, Chelsea were involved in two of them when signing defender Naomi Girma and forward Alyssa Thompson.

In the men's professional game, there was also a new record set with £9.5bn ($13.08bn) spent on transfer fees, a 52.3% increase from 2024.

England topped the spending table with a total of £2.7bn ($3.8bn) in transfer fees.

The top five transfer fees were paid by Premier League clubs and the two highest came from Liverpool when they signed Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike from Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively.