Transfers – 900 million euros spent in January: The winter transfer window returns to its pre-Covid level

The January 2022 winter transfer window has returned to pre-Covid-19 pandemic standards, with nearly $1 billion (€900 million) in international transfers in men’s football, according to a published FIFA report Tuesday. After more than a year of caution, football has returned to spending habits: $1.03 billion (€902 million) in compensation was spent in January on international transfers, an increase of 74.7% compared to January 2021, at the height of the crisis.

For comparison, in 2020, just before the pandemic, $1.16 billion was spent in January, compared to $1.1 billion in January 2019.”In men’s football, transfer market activity is almost back to pre-pandemic levels“, explains FIFA in a press release.

The French market recovered 86.9 million euros

Unsurprisingly, England was the biggest spender, with 349.5 million dollars (306 million euros) spent by English clubs, against 75.2 million (65.9 million euros). euros) by their French counterparts for example. France, on the other hand, is much better positioned in terms of compensation received during this period: French clubs received 99.2 million dollars (86.9 million euros) in January, just behind English clubs ( €95 million).

FIFA has also noticed an increase in the number of transfers in women’s football, even exceeding pre-Covid standards. Some 487,800 dollars (427,000 euros) were spent on players in January, a record largely beaten after the 310,100 dollars (272,000 euros) spent last year.

In a report published on Thursday February 3, UEFA for its part estimated the cost of Covid-19 in two seasons for European football at seven billion euros, pointing in particular to a 40% reduction in income due to transfers during summer 2020, January 2021 and summer 2021 transfer windows.