Women’s football has experienced significant growth in the last few years, with attendance records smashed across the world and complicated broadcast deals signed at increasing values.
With that comes more money, and as a result, player values are rising at a rapid rate.
The women’s football transfer record was broken twice in the winter of 2024 alone, and now it has fallen once again.
The Sporting News brings you the list of most expensive players in women’s football history, with the record set to be broken by an American defender.
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Biggest transfers in women’s football history
According to a report Tuesday by Meg Linehan of The Athletic, American defender Naomi Girma has secured a move to Chelsea for a world record transfer fee of $1.1 million (€1.06m / £890,000).
The report states that Girma will become the first women’s football player to ever garner a transfer fee above $1 million.
It beats last winter’s pair of NWSL swoops for Zambia internationals Racheal Kundananji and Barbra Banda, while Chelsea were also in the mix with their splash a year ago for Colombian forward Mayra Ramirez.
Table updated as of January 21, 2025, with publicly reported figures only.
Pos. | Player | Nationality | Transfer fee | Date | Bought by | Sold by |
1. | Naomi Girma* | United States | $1.1 million | Jan, 2025 | Chelsea (ENG) | San Diego Wave (USA) |
2. | Racheal Kundananji | Zambia | $862,000 | Feb, 2024 | Bay FC (USA) | Madrid CFF (ESP) |
3. | Barbra Banda | Zambia | $740,000 | Mar, 2024 | Orlando Pride (USA) | Shanghai Shengli (CHI) |
4. | Mayra Ramirez | Colombia | $544,000 | Jan, 2024 | Chelsea (ENG) | Levante (ESP) |
5. | Keira Walsh | England | $470,000 | Sep, 2022 | Barcelona (ESP) | Man City (ENG) |
6. | Tarciane | Brazil | $485,000 | Apr, 2024 | Houston Dash (USA) | Corinthians (BRZ) |
7. | Lena Oberdorf | Germany | $484,000 | Feb, 2024 | Bayern Munich (GER) | Wolfsburg (GER) |
8. | Priscila | Brazil | $479,000 | Sep, 2024 | Club America (MEX) | Internacional (BRZ) |
9. | Nika Nazareth | Portugal | $432,000 | Jul, 2024 | Barcelona (ESP) | Benfica (POR) |
10. | Ewa Pajor | Poland | $429,000 | Jul, 2024 | Barcelona (ESP) | Wolfsburg (GER) |
*Not yet officially confirmed
Naomi Girma breaks transfer record, per reports
24-year-old Naomi Girma is considered one of the best defenders in the world, and her exclusion from the Ballon d’Or shortlist in 2024 was widely regarded as a massive snub. She helped lead the U.S. women to a gold medal at the 2024 summer Olympics, during which former Chelsea head coach and current USWNT boss Emma Hayes called her “the best defender I’ve ever seen.”
The news represents a massive moment in women’s football for a number of reasons. It signals not only that there is money present in the club game to fund such a move, but especially for a defender, who generally do not find themselves the subject of record-breaking transfer fees in the men’s game.
It’s also the latest in a career of watershed moment for Girma personally. Selected with the first overall pick in the 2022 NWSL draft (an event which has since been scrapped) out of Stanford, Girma has won NWSL Defender of the Year in both of her professional seasons alongside winning Rookie of the Year in 2022.
She won U.S. Soccer Player of the Year in 2023, signaling her status as the best player on one of the world’s top-ranked teams.
Girma will now join fellow USWNT internationals Catarina Macario and Mia Fishel at Chelsea, hoping to help lead the Blues to a coveted first Champions League title. They won Group B and are awaiting the February 7 knockout stage draw to determine their knockout stage pathway. Chelsea also currently lead the Women’s Super League title race, having finished first in each of the last five English top flight seasons.
Most expensive American women’s players
In becoming the most expensive player in women’s football history, Girma also, of course, became the most expensive American player. She breaks the record previously held by Lindsey Horan who moved to French side Lyon in the summer of 2023.
Surprisingly, there aren’t that many American internationals on the all-time list of most expensive transfers. This is because until recently, nearly all USWNT stars played their club ball exclusively for domestic-based clubs. Transfers within the NWSL, a single-entity league, are often either not publicly disclosed or not considered to be cash deals, and thus wouldn’t qualify for this list.
If more top American players transfer abroad like Girma or Horan, you will likely see them crop up on the all-time list in increasing numbers.
Table updated as of January 21, 2024 with publicly reported figures only.
Pos. | Player | Transfer fee | Date | Bought by | Sold by |
1. | Naomi Girma* | $1.1 million | Jan, 2025 | Chelsea (ENG) | San Diego Wave (USA) |
2. | Lindsey Horan | $329,000 | Jun, 2023 | Lyon (FRA) | Portland Thorns (USA) |
3. | Mia Fishel | $250,000 | Aug, 2023 | Chelsea (ENG) | Tigres (MEX) |
*Not yet officially confirmed