The 5 most expensive women’s football transfers of all time until 2022

Deals in the football transfer market are not limited to men only, but also extend to women in the game, but there is a huge difference in the value of these deals with imaginary margins. Let’s take a look at the top 5 club-to-club female transfer deals ever recorded.

The women’s game has seen leaps and bounds in the last decade, and female footballers are beginning to receive recognition for their talents. England’s victory at the 2022 European Women’s Championship took the game to a new level, as the attendance for the Wembley final broke the record for a Euro final for both men’s and women’s matches.

However, despite increased funding for the game, such as the prize money of the FA Women’s Cup, there is still a huge wealth gap between men’s and women’s football.

But what are the most expensive transfers of women’s football players ever, according to the website “Football Transfers”, according to the latest estimate published on 1 August 2022?

1 – Danish Pernille Harder, 250 thousand euros, moves from “Wolfsburg” to “Chelsea” in 2020.

As the most expensive female player in history, Harder won the UEFA Women’s Player of the Year award twice, won the Danish Women’s Player of the Year award five times and won five league titles in her career.

She also has more than 250 goals in her career, scoring 27 Bundesliga goals in 21 games in her final season at Wolfsburg, the most in a single season. She even led her national team (Denmark) to the finals of Euro 2017, scoring a goal in the final against the Netherlands even though her country lost.

Harder also scored 17 goals in her first campaign for Chelsea, helping the team win the WSL Women’s Super League title and reach the Champions League final for the first time in their history. And after that run to the final, which included goals with both legs against her former club Wolfsburg, Harder was named in the team of the season for the fifth consecutive year.

2 – Brazilian Milene Dominguez, 235 thousand euros, transferred from “Fiama Monza” to “Rayo Vallecano” in 2003.

The ex-wife of Brazilian superstar Ronaldo Nazario, Mylene Dominguez, signed for ‘Rayo Vallecano’ for a world record fee in 2003. Due to Spanish rules, Dominguez could not play competitive matches for the club and could only appear in friendly matches.

She became famous long before she moved to Spain. At the age of 14, she joined the Corinthians women’s team in her native Brazil. After 3 years, she set a new world record by playing the ball 55,187 times in a row, which is an achievement that lasted more than 9 hours.

After marrying Ronaldo, she decided to return to football and joined the Italian club Fiama Monza, while Ronaldo was at Inter Milan. However, when Ronaldo left Inter for Real Madrid, Dominguez followed him in his departure from Italy. And her arrival in the country provided an opportunity to raise the profile of the women’s game by adding Ronaldo’s wife to the league.

She chose to join Rayo Vallecano and earned an annual salary of €36,000 (£23,000) to become the highest paid player in the country and was one of the few women paid to play football. However, she soon discovered that she would not be able to play professionally for the club, as only Spanish players were allowed to play in the Women’s First Division at the time.

Wanting to play, Dominguez arranged to travel to her former club, Fiama Monza, every weekend to ensure she could be competitive.

3- Englishwoman Lauren James, 235 thousand euros, moves from Manchester United to Chelsea in 2021.

Lauren is the younger sister of Chelsea star Reece James and joined her brother in west London in 2021 after a distinguished spell at Manchester United. The striker scored 14 goals in 18 league games to lead the club to promotion to the WSL Women’s Super League in the 2018/19 season, scoring the club’s first goal in the top division of English women’s football.

She featured in the UEFA England Under-19 Championship, finished her first spell with the Red Devils in the WSL Women’s Super League as their top scorer with six goals in 12 games, and was nominated for Young Player of the Year. Before joining Manchester United, James made her debut with Arsenal, becoming the second youngest player to do so at the age of 16. She even started training with the first team a year ago. She joined Chelsea on a 4-year contract when she was still 19 years old.

4 – Australian Ellie Carpenter, more than 100,000 euros to move from “Portland Thorns” to “Lyon” in 2020.

When the famous player Lucy Bronze decided to leave “Lyon” and return to “Manchester City”, the French giants were left with a hole at right back, before they decided to sign Ellie Carpenter, who was only 20 years old at the time.

The defender arrived with an absolutely impressive resume and reputation befitting any young player in the world, winning three consecutive W-League Young Player of the Year awards, Australia’s equivalent of the A-League.

Carpenter, who broke the record in her home country, made her incredible W-League debut at the age of 15, and also made her Australian debut at the same age, breaking the record for the youngest player to make an appearance in that country. She also became the first Australian player of either gender born in the 21st century to play for her country.

Carpenter is also the youngest player to play at the Olympics, after performing in Rio 2016. After leaving Australia and moving to the top division of America, the defender set the NWSL record for being the youngest player for the Portland Thorns, and had is 18 years old.

She then joined Lyon in 2020 and was part of the team that won the UEFA Women’s Champions League in her first year at the club, although she was an unused substitute in the final. Carpenter had already made 50 appearances by the age of 22.

5- French Valerie Goffin, 100 thousand euros, moves from “Montpellier” to “Everton” in 2020.

Valerie Goffin joined Everton for a club record 6 years at Montpellier. “Hunter” in the penalty area became a regular part of the team from 2012 to 2014. For the club where she grew up, she scored 33 goals in 31 games. Goffin scored 13 goals in 17 games in her third season with the club to secure UEFA Champions League football. And I went to Everton with 90 entries.

Since joining Everton in 2020, the player has made a widespread positive impact, scoring 8 goals despite injury in her first appearance in the Women’s Premier League. She has played regularly for the French national team, scoring in her country’s round of 16 win over Brazil at the 2019 World Cup, despite their quarter-final upset. Goffin scored her first goal for her country, securing an 8–0 win against Ghana in October 2017.