How transfers in women’s football are evolving

Women’s football is evolving at a rapid pace and the transfer market is no different.

For a long time, player movement even at the top end of the women’s game was dictated by free transfers and rarely would money change hands between clubs. Players would tend to move only at the end of their contract, while contracts themselves tended to be short – many just 12 months.

But as with the development of every other aspect of women’s football, the changing nature of the transfer market and how clubs approach it is a natural progression and to be expected.

In 2022, Barcelona broke the world transfer record with their capture of England international Keira Walsh in September. But more clubs are spending more money on transfers in a more general sense.

FIFA’s newly released Global Transfer Report for 2022 has confirmed there were 1,555 international transfers completed during 2022. In terms of sheer volume, that number is way up on previous years – it stood at 1,303 in 2021 and was only 694 in 2018.

The number of different clubs involved in international transfers has also increased – 500 in 2022, more than double the 220 clubs four years earlier.

The vast majority of transfers within women’s football remain free transfers for out of contract players – 85% of the 1,555 international transfers in 2022. But the proportion of permanent transfers with a transfer agreement between the two clubs has more than doubled since 2021.

Permanent transfers requiring a transfer agreement between clubs accounted for only 3.5% of all international transfers in 2021. It was only a fraction in 2018. But in 2022, that number was 7.3%.

For reference, in men’s football, only 13.3% of international transfers in 2022 were permanent deals involving a fee – it may seem more because of the media attention such deals attract.

The total spent on women’s football international transfers in 2022 totalled $3.3m (£2.7m/€3m). That is the most ever, up an enormous 62% on the global spend on international transfers for 2021.

More clubs spent transfer fees internationally and more received them than ever before.

Most money ($1.7m) was spent on players between the age of 24 and 29, with players from 18 to 29 accounting for $2.9m of the entire $3.3m transfer spend.

It is not only transfer types and fees that are changing. The players contracts being handed out are also evolving. Around 62% of contracts for players who transferred internationally in 2022 were still for one year or…