Olivia Smith: First £1m transfer shows good and bad of women’s football
As a snapshot of the state of women’s club football, Arsenal’s world record £1m signing of Canadian forward Olivia Smith from Liverpool works pretty well.
The first ever million-pound transfer in the women’s game underlines the rapid financial evolution it has undergone since the turn of the decade, as investment has poured in from clubs, broadcasters, sponsors and fans.
But it also highlights a divide in women’s football between the haves and have-nots which, if allowed to continue growing, could make outcomes too predictable and prove a turn-off for all stakeholders mentioned above.
Evolution of women’s football transfer record
Until 2020, the world record fee paid in women’s football stood at £200,000 – a sum paid by Spanish side Rayo Vallecano for Brazilian player Milene Rodrigues, then wife of Real Madrid star Ronaldo, in what amounted to a publicity stunt for the team and its owner’s rice pudding business.
Chelsea’s signing of Denmark forward Pernille Harder from Wolfsburg finally eclipsed that mark five years ago, since when the women’s transfer record has been on a furious upward trajectory.
Barcelona set a new benchmark in 2022 by signing Lioness Keira Walsh from Manchester CIty for £400,000, Chelsea beat it in 2024 with a potential £426,000 deal for Colombia striker Mayra Ramirez from Levante and US franchise Bay FC went further still later that year by spending £685,000 to sign Zambia forward Racheal Kundananji from Madrid CFF.
Last summer both Chelsea and Arsenal attempted to break the £1m mark with bids for Barcelona stars Aitana Bonmati and Walsh, although both were rejected. In January Chelsea broke the record with a £883,000 deal for US defender Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave.
Now Arsenal have hit the magic seven-figure threshold with their move for Smith, whose value has increased five-fold since joining Liverpool last summer.
On the one hand, the increasing sums spent on talent is a good sign for women’s football. More money in the ecosystem can encourage further growth as it trickles down, and suggests that investment in top talent is generating meaningful returns through prize money, commercial deals resulting from increased visibility, and bums on seats.
“It’s the direction the women’s game is going in, and it’s great to see,” England player Lauren Hemp said. “It’s proof that women’s footballers are great, and that is the way that game is going, so long may that continue.”
Competitiveness gap in women’s football
On the other hand, Arsenal’s watershed deal for 20-year-old Smith highlights one of women’s football’s most pressing concerns: a growing gap in resources between the teams at the top and the rest of the game.
It is telling that Chelsea, the Women’s Super League’s dominant team, have been responsible for three of the six new world record fees set since the turn of the decade.
The only team to rival their spending power are Arsenal, whose revenue is the biggest in the WSL as a result of concerted efforts to promote the women’s team and has been boosted by winning the Champions League last season.
Outside of England, perhaps only Barcelona and US franchises in the NWSL have the resources to shell out in that fashion, and the latter are gradually being left behind by Europe.
Earlier this summer, Deloitte forecast that combined revenues of WSL clubs would top £100m for the first time next season, having grown 36 per cent in 2023-24.
But the stark reality is that the top four teams – Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City – account for two thirds of the 12 WSL sides’ revenue, and are unsurprisingly way out in front in the table
The gap between highest earning and lowest earning WSL clubs has grown from £10.3m to £14.1m, leading to a warning from Deloitte that steps should be taken to redress the balance.
“For long-term growth to take place, competitive balance is a key priority,” said Tim Bridge, lead partner in the Sports Business Group.
Bridge floated the idea that the WSL might benefit from its own version of FFP (financial fair play) or PSR (profitability and sustainability rules), which limit spending to broadly what teams generate themselves in revenue.
“With the gap widening between the highest and lowest-earning clubs within the league, there’s a risk that this will lessen the jeopardy on pitch and the attention of fans.
“Sealing investment and commercial deals across the league, alongside implementing cost control interventions, may counter this to promote long-term stability across the pyramid.”
Cost controls could restrict the very investment credited with driving the growth of recent years, however, and such measures have already proven contentious in the men’s game.
For now, then, women’s football is likely to see fees continue to rocket among its elite clubs – the pool of which may be set to get smaller and smaller.