ANKARA
Spending on the international transfer of soccer players decreased by 30 percent according to the sport's governing body FIFA.
Spending was $346 million in January, compared with $417 million in the same month of 2013.
During the January 2014, 2,631 transfers were completed in FIFA‘s Transfer Matching System while 1,748 transfers were completed in the same month of 2013.
A quarter of the transfers in January 2014 were loan deals.
South American and European players were among the top ranked nationalities in terms of transfers in which fees were paid.
Separately, $3.7 billion was spent globally in 2013 for the transfer of players, a 41 percent increase on the previous year, according to FIFA.
FIFA said that 82 percent of spending came from nine countries: England, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Portugal, with Europe accounting from over three-quarters of the total market value.
British teams were the biggest spenders with $913 million spent on international transfers, an increase of 51 percent from the previous year. Italian clubs spent $475 million on players, a 120 percent jump on the year before, despite reports of financial difficulties at top teams.
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