The summer has also been an interesting time in the women’s football player market.
The most lucrative transfer of the year so far was already seen at the beginning of the year, when Racheal Kundananji moved from Madrid CFF to Bay FC in February for a record 735,000 euros. However, many of the summer’s big transfers have happened for free.
– The contracts are not yet at a level where the clubs could buy certain players they want in the middle of the contract period. I think that in the future transfer amounts will increase as women’s football develops as a business, Urheilu’s expert Essi Sainio comment.
Wolfsburg, which plays in the Bundesliga, netted the biggest money from transfers in the summer. Polish Ewa Pajor moved from Wolfsburg to Barcelona for 500,000 euros and a German Lena Oberdorf on the other hand, from Wolfsburg to Bayern Munich for 450,000 euros.
The most talked about transfers of the summer
Sainio names the Swiss as the most talked about transfer of the summer by Alisha Lehmann the transfer from Aston Villa to the ranks of the Italian Juventus, Mariona Caldentey transfer from Barcelona to Arsenal, Lucy Bronze the transfer from Barcelona to Chelsea and the beginning of the summer, which has been talked about a lot Vivianne Miedeman transfer from Arsenal to Manchester City.
Lehmann moved from Aston Villa to Juventus with his boyfriend by Douglas Luiz ways. Lehmann is one of the most famous faces in women’s football and has more than 17 million followers on Instagram, for example.
– Lehmann’s transfer is the most interesting in terms of market value. It says a lot that Lehmann doesn’t even fit into the starting line-up of the Swiss national team. Lehmann is definitely not a bad player, but his market value has certainly been weighed down in the balance cup. On the other hand, if it increases the interest of women’s football, I’ll give it a shot, but I hope that the game and the level of the series will remain in the center. A few business transfers do not break the sport, commented Sainio.
Sainio mentions the transfer of Spanish striker Mariona Caldentey from Barcelona to Arsenal as the most interesting in terms of gameplay. The London club did not have to pay Caldentey a single euro.
– It will be interesting to see what he can bring to Arsenal. The teams’ playing styles are completely different.
Another big name who moved from Barcelona to the English Super League is Lucy Bronze, who was seen in the Super League last time in the ranks of Manchester City. The English defender spent the seasons 2022–2024 in Barcelona. The Catalan giant will not receive a transfer fee from Bronze either.
– Bronze strengthens Chelsea, which is already quite strong. He brings leadership and experience to the team. With his strong offensive game, he brings a great option to rush attacks. In addition, Bronze brings strength to the defensive line, Sainio lists.
The biggest transfer news of the early summer was Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema’s defection to rival Manchester City. Miedema represented Arsenal in the 2017-2024 seasons, but the London club announced in May that it would not offer its star striker an extension contract.
Miedema’s last years at Arsenal were colored by knee injuries.
– We talked about whether he has anything left to give and whether he has already passed the playing age. There is definitely more to give. He lives for balls in the box, especially when he is 100% fit. At City, he has great players around him, e.g. Chloe Kelly and Yui Hasegawa. Kelly likes to center and Miedema is a good main player, he fits in perfectly, Sainio sees.
North America is still interesting
The North American NWSL has been of interest to players for a long time, but for this season it has received a challenger from the newly launched USL Super League. For example, Carolina sold out its stadium, which attracts more than 10,000 spectators, in its opening game. The series also features a Finnish color, because Jenny Danielsson plays for Dallas.
– We are living in exciting times in all aspects in terms of futs. (Playing in the NWSL) Angel City FC is currently the most valuable of all women’s clubs. The conditions are at a very high level, the stadiums are full in almost every game… I’m not surprised that the players want to go there. Danielsson’s transfer is a big deal, even though it hasn’t been brought up terribly in Finland, commented Sainio.
After last summer’s World Cup, there was talk of Europe’s superiority in women’s football. Of the non-European countries, only Australia made it to the semi-finals. The English Super League was already elevated past the NWSL as the best women’s soccer league in the world.
However, the USA won in the summer by Emma Hayes led by the Olympic gold, which once again raised the discussion of the US and European competition even in the major leagues.
– There is a genuine competition between the best in Europe and the Yankees’ league. It’s getting harder and harder to say where the best series really is at the moment.
Women are also attracted to Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Arabian Women’s Football League was founded in 2022. Like the men’s main league, the series has tried to attract top players from the women’s side as well, and some have responded positively to the invitation.
Perhaps the most surprising transfer of the summer was the former captain of Iceland’s national team Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir transfer from Juventus to the ranks of Al-Qadsiah.
– He did pioneering work in order to get a clause in the contracts for the players regarding maternity leave and the compensation paid for it. Then he moved to Saudi Arabia, a country where human rights are not realized for everyone. Yes, it makes you think about where we are going, Sainio begins.
He has followed the movement with interest.
– There are surprisingly many foreign players there. It’s a market where we don’t get an awful lot of news until a player like Gunnarsdottir moves there. For many people, money is what attracts them. These are the moments when values are weighed. It’s easy to list them, but acting on them is more difficult.
The second, perhaps the most sensational transfer of the women’s Saudi league of the summer, became public on Friday. Al-Shabab announced that it had captured the former PSG gambler who was at the center of a giant abuse ring of Kheira Hamraoui. Hamraoui was assaulted by masked men in November 2021 after a team dinner, with a teammate accused of orchestrating the assault Aminata Diallo.
Although Hamraoui was a victim in the incident, his time at PSG after the incident was challenging. In the spring of 2022, he was involved in an incident during the club’s training, after which he was dropped from the lineup for the rest of the season. The dispute was finally settled, and Hamraoui returned to the playing lineup in October 2022. In the 2023 season, he played in Mexico.
Diallo also has Saudi connections: he played last season in the women’s ranks of Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia.
There is also movement from domestic fields
FC Honka has excelled in international transfers from domestic fields, from whose ranks four players have moved abroad this summer: the most recent, who moved to Köge in Denmark Eevi Sutela.
Previously, they moved abroad from Honga Inka Kaivola (to Austria) and goalkeeper Liisa Tuomi to the Lithuanian Gintra. Credit defender Noora Hämäläinen was loaned to Eskilstuna, which plays in the Swedish first division.
In previous years, many of the Finnish players have moved to Sweden and from Sweden possibly on to bigger leagues.
– At the moment, the field where the players go is wider. More and more leagues and teams are able to offer viable contracts to grab. Sweden is no longer the only place, and not necessarily the best place, unless you go to top teams like Rosengård, Häcken and Hammarby, commented Sainio.
The Espoo club has emphasized that the transfers are part of the strategy: the purpose of player sales is to develop the club’s operations. At the same time, however, Honka is declared the championship as his official goal.
– Sounds like a difficult equation. You may not be able to have both. We hope that towards Honka you will also see purchases. The business world includes sales and purchases. Money is not useful in practice, if it is not also used to be able to fight for championships, medals and top-end league places. When the best leave, there will certainly be good juniors to take their place, but they also need time to grow, Sainio reflects.
The level and development of the national league has spoken during the past week. In connection with ‘s TV game, it was discussed why the players even choose the Swedish divar and the Baltic series before the domestic league.
Sainio emphasizes that there is nothing wrong with moving abroad, on the contrary.
– It’s really different to go play in Iceland or Lithuania than, for example, in the Danish Premier League or the London City Lionesses, where Michele Kang create a new business from women’s football.
At least one of HJK’s promising defenders is heading abroad from the domestic fields Jasmin Mansaray, who thanked on Instagram Club from 13 years spent at the club.
For example, in England, the women’s transfer window closes only in mid-September. Sainio believes that there are still big transfers to come during this window.