Football clubs spent $6.5 billion for international transfers in 2022, a FIFA report said on Thursday.

According to the report, the clubs' transfer expenditures rose by %33.5 compared to 2021, which was $4.86 billion.

However the figure for 2022 is still lower than those in 2018 and 2019.

In 2018, the clubs spent $6.94 billion for international transfers, but in 2019 they splashed out $7.35 billion, which was a peak.

The coronavirus-hit 2020 saw a significant decline, with only $5.63 billion spent among clubs.

In 2022, 71,002 transfers including amateur men's and women's football were made, which is an all-time record, as FIFA confirmed.

The English clubs have spent more money than the others last year.

“English clubs traditionally have the highest annual spending on transfer fees among all associations, and 2022 was once again no exception. For the first time ever, their total outlay exceeded the USD 2 billion mark and reached a record high of almost USD 2.2 billion,” the FIFA report said.

Meanwhile French clubs earned the most with $740.3 million.

Brazilian players led the 2022 rankings as a total of $843.2 million transfer fee were paid for them in at least 2,000 transfers last year.

They were followed by French players. Clubs spent $591.5 million for French nationals in 2022.

Last year saw many big signings, as French midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni moved from Monaco to Real Madrid, Uruguayan forward Darwin Nunez left Benfica for Liverpool, and Norwegian star Erling Haaland joined Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund.

In addition, Manchester United signed Brazilian duo Antony and Casemiro in August. Antony left Ajax and his compatriot Casemiro exited Real Madrid for Manchester United.

Both players were among the significant moves. (Anadolu Agency)

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