The following is a list of the most expensive women's association football transfers, which details the highest transfer fees ever paid for players, as well as transfers which set new world transfer records.
The first transfer in women's football reported as a record was that of Milene Domingues from Fiammamonza to Rayo Vallecano in 2002, two decades before professionalism in Spanish women's football. The current transfer record was set by the transfer of Grace Geyoro from Paris Saint-Germain to London City Lionesses for £1.43million in September 2025 as they began their first season in the English top-flight Women's Super League.
The most expensive transfer to a team not in the top tier is the €300,000 potential total fee for the transfer of Julia Torres from Sevilla to Barcelona B set in March 2026; also the highest transfer fee between two Spanish teams at the time it was agreed, the total fee includes bonuses contingent on Torres ultimately playing for Barcelona's first team. The only known transfer fee for a player not in the top two flights was paid for Weronika Araśniewicz of Barcelona C when VfL Wolfsburg exercised their purchase option in July 2026, though Araśniewicz was signed to join their first team in the top tier.
In 2020, the Spanish then-Primera División introduced its Compensation List, a means for signatory clubs to retain the rights of under-23 players whose contracts had expired until another Spanish club paid a fee set by the owning club. Intended to compensate the costs of youth development, the fees were instead set disproportionately high for the global and internal market (all requests would have been records); unable to find new clubs in Spain, the players named on the Compensation List either stayed at clubs that did not wish to play them or moved abroad, with the list scrapped by the end of the year without having facilitated a transfer.
Later that year, the USA's National Women's Soccer League introduced allocation money, giving its constituent clubs options to make fee-involved trades and exchange the allocation money credits for the NWSL to purchase players from other leagues. The NWSL began phasing out allocation money in 2024, with an aim to stop its use by 2026, as part of its measures to shift to a more international transfer system and in recognition of other leagues financially outpacing it.
Highest transfer payments in women's association football Most expensive player transfers Keira Walsh and Tarciane both appear twice on the list. The players on the list include at least one from each continental region except Oceania (OFC). Though players from Europe (UEFA), North America (CONCACAF), South America (CONMEBOL), Africa (CAF), and Asia (AFC) are all represented, most are European and the purchasing clubs are all European, North American, or Asian.
This list only includes transfers where a fee amount is reported publicly. Fees are in thousands.
This list does not include NWSL domestic trades, which can involve cash equivalents that are managed by the league and/or non-cash assets. These are listed below as the #Largest cash-equivalent trades.
RankPlayerFromToPositionTransfer fee£ thousand€ thousand$ thousand1 Grace Geyoro Paris Saint-Germain London City LionessesMidfielder1,4301,6501,9232 Alyssa Thompson Angel City ChelseaForward<1,430<1,650<1,9233 Felicia Schröder BK Häcken Real MadridForward1,2941,5001,714 Kerolin Manchester City BarcelonaForward1,2801,5001,7005 Lizbeth Ovalle Tigres UANL Orlando PrideForward1,1111,2851,5006 Olivia Smith Liverpool ArsenalForward1,0001,1601,3607 Naomi Girma San Diego Wave ChelseaDefender8831,0501,1008 Melvine Malard Manchester United ChelseaForward8501,0001,1389 Tarciane Houston Dash OL LyonnesDefender79796097910 Claudia Martínez Olimpia Washington SpiritForward70380595011 Keira Walsh Barcelona ChelseaMidfielder71485088412 Racheal Kundananji Madrid CFF Bay FCForward68580586213 Sam Coffey Portland Thorns Manchester CityMidfielder65075087514 Kiana Palacios América Utah RoyalsForward60068080015 Barbra Banda Shanghai Shengli Orlando PrideForward58268174016 Ellen Wangerheim Hammarby IF Manchester UnitedForward56064575017 Lisa Baum RB Leipzig ArsenalForward510600690 Nina Nijstad PSV Eindhoven Portland ThornsMidfielder510600684 Johanna Rytting Kaneryd Chelsea OL LyonnesMidfielder510600684 Janou Levels VfL Wolfsburg Real MadridDefender51060068421 Kadidiatou Diani OL Lyonnes London City LionessesForward>500>586>67022 Niamh Charles Chelsea Manchester CityDefender50058067023 Kelly Gago Everton West Ham UnitedForward<500<590<67024 Lara Prašnikar Eintracht Frankfurt Utah RoyalsForward47855064325 Oriane Jean-François Chelsea Aston VillaMidfielder45051960726 Giulia Dragoni Barcelona ChelseaMidfielder>428>500>57627 Lucía Corrales Barcelona London City LionessesForward43350058528 Keira Walsh Manchester City BarcelonaMidfielder40047047029 Lily Yohannes Ajax OL LyonnesForward391450526 Sofie Svava OL Lyonnes ComoMidfielder38345051531 Priscila Internacional AméricaForward38344850332 Alice Sombath OL Lyonnes Tottenham HotspurDefender>378>443>50533 Signe Gaupset Brann Tottenham HotspurMidfielder37843049534 Mayra Ramírez Levante ChelseaForward384450486 Lena Oberdorf VfL Wolfsburg Bayern MunichMidfielder38445048436 Kika Nazareth Benfica BarcelonaForward339400432 Ewa Pajor VfL Wolfsburg BarcelonaForward33840042938 Tarciane Corinthians Houston DashDefender<346<406<43239 Ayo Oke Pachuca Denver SummitDefender33338745040 Evelyn Ijeh Milan NC CourageForward305+350+413+41 Jill Roord VfL Wolfsburg Manchester CityMidfielder300+350+382+42 Kyra Cooney-Cross Hammarby IF ArsenalMidfielder30135037343 Denise O'Sullivan NC Courage LiverpoolMidfielder300~344~40244 Jana Fernández Barcelona London City LionessesDefender260300350 Julia Torres Sevilla Barcelona BDefender261300348 Lindsey Horan Portland Thorns LyonMidfielder258300329 Geyse Barcelona Manchester UnitedForward256300326 Gabi Nunes Levante Aston VillaForward250300333 Gift Monday Tenerife Washington SpiritForward25030032450 Scarlett Camberos América Angel CityForward250+285+308+
Notes
Most expensive player by confederation ConfederationPlayerFromToPositionTransfer feeYear£ thousand€ thousand$ thousandAFC Kyra Cooney-Cross Hammarby IF ArsenalMidfielder3013503732023CAF Racheal Kundananji Madrid CFF Bay FCForward685805862CONCACAF Alyssa Thompson Angel City ChelseaForward<1,430<1,650<1,9232025CONMEBOL Kerolin Manchester City BarcelonaForward1,2801,5001,7002026OFC Macey Fraser Wellington Phoenix Utah RoyalsMidfielder>53>61>652024UEFA Grace Geyoro Paris Saint-Germain London City LionessesMidfielder1,4301,6501,9232025
History Compensated transfers in the 20th century Prior to women's football teams having oversight from football federations, compensation was still paid for some transfers. The first compensated transfer of a female footballer was of Molly Walker, from Lancaster Ladies to Dick, Kerr Ladies in 1918; Walker was offered expenses paid as well as payment in lieu for joining the team. In the 1970s, various teams in Italy, and Olímpico de Villaverde in Spain, offered a signing fee for some players; in 1973, Conchi Sánchez was paid Pts 75,000 (approximately €300 at the time) to leave Villaverde and join Gamma 3 Padova in Italy, with Stade de Reims in France offering Pts 1million for Villaverde's Victoria Hernández a few weeks later. Padova paid transfer bonuses in 1973, for German players Christia Nusser and Monika Bardof, "that would be desired by male players of [Spain's] Tercera División, and some of Segunda."
Women's football transfer record
First records The first transfer fee for a women's footballer known to be reported as a world record was the £200,000 ($310,000; €235,000) paid for Milene Domingues in 2002. As well as a world record, BBC Sport reported at the time that Domingues' transfer fee was "10 times the previous Spanish record for a female player", though did not specify this. In 2001, the largest women's team in Spain, Levante, acquired two players (Maider Castillo and Mar Prieto) from Torrejón for a reported large transfer fee of €3,000 (Pts 500,000). At the time, there was little to no money in women's football due to the limited number of professional leagues, and financial news focused on player salaries; Domingues received greater attention for the reported record salary she was to receive, though she ended up never playing for Rayo Vallecano, the club that signed her, due to non-Spanish players being unable to play in the Spanish women's league at the time. However, Domingues was not signed for her playing qualities, instead being a popular figure as the personable wife of Ronaldo, and her record signing was made more for promotional reasons. She fulfilled promotional duties at Rayo while returning to play for her previous team, Fiammamonza, without salary.
This transfer sum was not overtaken until September 2020, when Pernille Harder was bought by Chelsea for £250,000 ($334,000; €280,000). When, almost a year prior to Harder's transfer, Sam Kerr had also moved to Chelsea, focus was still on her large salary. In beating the near 20-year record by her transfer, Harder said she hoped it would help start to show that women's football can also be a club business like men's football and receive more money.
Harder gave similar comments when her record was beaten two years later by Barcelona buying Keira Walsh from Manchester City for £400,000 ($457,000; €470,000) in September 2022. Walsh instead was coy, saying she did not think about the record much, that she wanted to play at the club and "it just so happens that's what they paid for [her]." The Athletic and BBC Sport wrote that Walsh's transfer "shifted the ecosystem", having a significant impact on the market of women's football, that it showed "even the top clubs are not immune to the risk of losing their best players to rivals who are now willing to spend". It marked exponential growth for the transfer market; spending in transfer windows had been growing, with the winter 2021–22 window setting a then-record for global transfers in one season at a total of around £364,000 ($488,000; €432,000). Walsh's fee alone in the summer 2022 window eclipsed this, with further high transfer fees being paid as a domino effect supplementing the season total.
Market growth Walsh's transfer was predicated on the growing popularity of women's football and its players in England and Spain; after the fee showed the financial power of this growth in popularity, fees continued accelerating in such markets. In the next transfer window, Bethany England transferred (to Tottenham Hotspur from Chelsea) for a fee that equalled Harder's previous record. Following this and a slew of other six-figure transfer fees in England's Women's Super League (WSL) in 2023, some WSL managers criticised the rapid spending growth of the larger clubs; in September 2023, England's head of women's football, Baroness Sue Campbell, said that future limits on spending would be introduced.