Agents’ fees for international transfers in 2023 are nearing $1bn (£800m), according to football’s world governing body Fifa.
A report on the BBC website says: “In its ‘International Transfer Snapshot’, collated after the transfer window in all the major European leagues closed, Fifa said the overall spending on deals where players switched countries between 1 June and 1 September was $7.36bn (£5.9bn) in the men’s game, up 47.2% on last year.
It was $3m (£2.4m) in the women’s game – an increase of 140.8%.
While some of the detail, especially around the growth in spending of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), could have been predicted given the Saudi Pro-League’s increased recruitment drive, the amounts now being paid to agents is growing hugely.
Fifa says the total amount paid to agents during the recent transfer window was $696.6m (£558.3m), which “corresponds to nearly 10% of the total spending on transfer fees”. This compares to 5.8% in 2013.”