Top 20 leagues listed!
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Since the Premier League was re-formatted in 1992, it has been one of the most watched divisions in world football. Top players have flocked from every corner of the world to strut their stuff in the English top-flight. It has also (certainly in more recent years) become the richest league in the world, splashing out the most money on transfers. The Premier League currently commands a market value of €11.49 billion from its 20 clubs. The next most valuable league is La Liga at just €5.37b.
Since 2020, Premier League clubs have spent over €10b on new signings. Over double the amount of any other league in that period. But where does all the money go? Excluding in-house transfers between two Premier League clubs, here at Transfermarkt, we have calculated the other leagues in which Premier League clubs have paid the most money to for players since the 1992/93 season. There are certainly some surprises!
The leagues Premier League clubs have spent most money on players from
The league in which Premier League teams have spent the most money on players is none other than France’s Ligue 1, with €3.38b spent by Premier League clubs from players from the French top-flight. As many as 322 players have swapped Ligue 1 for the Premier League, with the record deal being Nicolas Pépé’s €80m move from Nice to Arsenal back in 2019. The division in second place actually stays within the confines of the country. Since 1992, Premier League teams have spent a whopping €3.22b on players from the Championship. Archie Gray was one of the latest to make a big money move between those two leagues, trading Leeds for Tottenham in a €41.25m deal last summer. In total as many as 515 players have moved from the Championship to the Premier League.
Next up it’s La Liga with 228 signings equating to €3.13b spent in transfer fees – the most expensive deal being Chelsea’s €80m acquisition of Athletic Club keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga in 2018. In fourth is the Bundesliga with €2.77b on 176 players including this summer’s Premier League-record €125m signing of Florian Wirtz by Liverpool. Completing the top five is Serie A with €2.75b spent on 214 players. The top deal being Chelsea re-signing Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan for €113m.
In sixth is Liga Portugal with Premier League clubs spending €1.62b on 110 players. Then it’s Netherlands’ Eredivisie with a total of €1.44b spent on 148 players. In eighth is the old English First Division which ran until the 2003/04 season – Premier League sides had spent €576m on 289 players from that league. In ninth is the Belgian Jupiler Pro League with €541m spent on 70 players since 1992. Completing the top 10 is the first league outside of Europe in the Brazilian Serie A, with €453m spent on 46 players.
