How do transfers work in soccer

Burgeoning TV revenues are one reason why. This was the most lucrative television deal ever signed in professional football. This extra spending power is filtering through into higher transfer fees.

Clubs spent more money than ever on international transfers last year. You can see this demonstrated in the chart below, which shows the amount of transfers each year which are included in Goal. Nineteen of the top happened this year — and more than half have occurred in the past four years. Some argue high transfer fees are bad for the game. Escalating transfer fees have "helped to destroy competitive balance", he said, because only a few top clubs — such as Manchester United, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich — can afford to buy elite players.

But FIFA data shows that high transfer fees are far from universal. The rest were free transfers — where a player's contract expires and they move on. To comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Capital, please head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.

If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc. How does a football transfer work? Share using Email. Every summer, enormous amounts of money change hands as top football clubs vie for the best players.

Why should I care? What is it? When do transfers happen? Is that it? What is the highest transfer fee football? What does personal terms mean in football? Can a football player play for two clubs? Do footballers get a percentage of transfer fee?

How much is Messi transfer fee? Previous Article What is background information in science? Back To Top. Other European Teams. Non-European Teams. Star Players. Other Sources. In American sports, players generally transfer from one team to another via one of two ways.

They can wait for their contract to run out and then become a free agent. Or, and perhaps more commonly, players are traded between teams. In soccer, the process by which players switch teams is very different. This system is explained below.

What is a Transfer? Instead of trades, teams buy and sell players to other teams for large amounts of money. The act of one team selling a player to another team is called a "transfer" and the fee that is paid is called a "transfer fee. However, instead of having a specific deadline, a transfer window specifies a period of time during which players may switch teams.