Transfer (football)

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In association football, a transfer is the action taken whenever a player moves between clubs. It refers to the transferring of a player's registration from one club to another. In general the players can only be transferred during a transfer window and according to the rules set by a governing body.

[edit] Fees

When a footballer is under contract with a club, he can only leave if the club agrees to terminate this contract. As a way of compensation, the club to whom the player is transferring will usually pay a capital sum. This is known as the 'transfer fee'. As part of the transfer deal, a proportion of the fee may go to the player himself and any agents involved in the deal. The exact percentage is subject to the regulations of the relevant governing body.

Historically, transfer fees were paid to a club even when the player was out of contract. The Bosman ruling ended this practice when the European Union ruled that any club demanding a fee for players out of contract was an illegal restriction on the free movement of workers. UEFA regulations still state that a fee must be paid for players under the age of 23 in consideration for the viability of lower income clubs. This may be arbitrated by a tribunal if it cannot be agreed upon between the two clubs.

Transfers may also involve a part-exchange, in which some or all of the capital fee is paid for by trading another player from the signing club to the selling club. Other methods of paying a transfer fee include:

Clauses depending on the player's success at the signing club (e.g. an extra fee if the player scores a total of 20 goals in his first season, or makes a given number of appearances)
Clauses depending on the signing club's success following the transfer
Clauses allowing the selling club to profit from any future transfers of the player (a "sell-on fee"). A notable example of a club that benefited from such a clause is Accrington Stanley, whose rise from the lower reaches of non-league English football to their current position in League Two was given a significant boost by the sell-on clause that was negotiated in its 1997 transfer of Brett Ormerod to Blackpool. The clause was triggered in 2001 when Blackpool sent Ormerod to Southampton.
Friendly matches between the two teams, in which the selling club receives all the gate receipts
The introduction of other reciprocal arrangements e.g. the signing club may agree to aid the selling club by the improvement of training facilities, or sharing of resources and coaches
In lower leagues payment in terms of goods, notably playing kit and equipment has occasionally occurred.

Additionally, a single fee may be used to buy the registration of many players at once.

[edit] FIFA's solidarity mechanism

On 19 October 2003 FIFA issued regulations and annexes that cover training compensation and a solidarity mechanism for the movement of players across borders.

If a player moves during the course of a contract, after reaching the age of 23 or after his second transfer (whichever comes first), a proportion (5%) of any compensation paid to the previous club will be distributed to the club(s) involved in the training and education of the player. This distribution will be made in proportion to the number of years the player has been registered with the relevant clubs between the age of 12 and 23.

The nature of the 5% that comes from the solidarity mechanism is in some sense a return in investment for the nursery club.

[edit] Medical examination

Players will commonly undergo a medical examination and/or physical fitness test before a transfer completes. Occasionally, previously unknown medical problems will be detected, potentially jeopardizing the transfer or the size of the fee.

[edit] Highest fees

The following table shows the highest transfer fees ever paid in GBP. All the of transfer fees over £10 million have been paid by clubs in England, Italy or Spain.

European football experienced a "transfer bubble" fuelled by rapidly rising television rights sales between 1999 and 2002, and fees then fell away significantly. The two most expensive transfers since that time were both made by Real Madrid in 2009; they purchased Kaká from AC Milan for a fee of £56 million, followed shortly thereafter by their £80 million purchase of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United. Of the transfers in the list below, Rio Ferdinand's included performance-related clauses, as may some of the other deals. This leads to different figures being given by different sources. Such performance related clauses have become more common since the bursting of the transfer bubble, meaning that it is harder to produce definitive lists of the largest transfer fees than was the case in the past.

In June 2009, Kaká moved from Milan to Real Madrid for a fee of £56 million, a world record for a player transfer in pounds sterling. However, due to fluctuating exchange rates, it was at the time the second-largest transfer when considered in euros. ^[1] The same week, Manchester United announced the acceptance of a £80m (€94m) bid, a new world record in both pounds and euros, from the same Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo and were allowing talks between the player and club, focussing on the player's salary. ^[2] Real announced on June 26 that Real and United had reached a final transfer agreement, effective July 1, and that Ronaldo had signed a six-year contract with Real.^[3]

Rank	Player	From	To	Transfer Fee (£ millions)	Transfer Fee (€ millions)	Year	CPI UK^[4]	Fee Equivalent (2005 £ millions)
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	Real Madrid	80.0^[5]	94.0^[6]	2009	110.1	72.7
2	Kaká	Milan	Real Madrid	56.1^[7]	65.4	2009	110.1	51.0
3	Zinédine Zidane	Juventus	Real Madrid	65.0^[8]	76.0	2001	94.2	48.8
4	Luís Figo	Barcelona	Real Madrid	37.0^[9]	43.1	2000	92.8	39.9
5	Hernán Crespo	Parma	Lazio	35.5^[10]	53.6	2000	94.9	37.4
6	Gianluigi Buffon	Parma	Juventus	32.6^[11]	49.2	2001	94.2	34.6
7	Robinho	Real Madrid	Manchester City	32.5^[12]	49.0	2008	109.7	29.6
8	Christian Vieri	Lazio	Internazionale	32.0^[13]	48.3	1999	92.3	34.7
9	Andriy Shevchenko	Milan	Chelsea	30.8^[14]	46.5	2006	102.2	30.1
10	Dimitar Berbatov	Tottenham	Manchester United	30.75^[15]	46.4	2008	109.7	28.1
11	Pavel Nedvěd	Lazio	Juventus	30.6^[16]	46.2	2001	94.2	32.5
12	Rio Ferdinand	Leeds United	Manchester United	29.1^[17]	43.9	2002	95.2	30.6
13	Gaizka Mendieta	Valencia	Lazio	29.0^[18]	43.8	2001	94.2	30.8
14	Ronaldo	Internazionale	Real Madrid	28.5^[19]	43.0	2002	95.2	29.9
15	Juan Sebastián Verón	Lazio	Manchester United	28.1^[20]	42.4	2001	94.2	29.8