What are the biggest women's transfers of all time?

Naomi Girma of Chelsea waves to the crowd as she is unveiled as a Chelsea player prior to the Barclays Women's Super League match between Chelsea FC and Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on January 26, 2025 in London, England.
Naomi Girma was introduced at Stamford Bridge (Image credit: Harriet Lander - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

It's not always obvious which are the biggest women's transfers just by looking at who has signed who each window.

With less fixation on transfer fees in the women's game, fans don't always know how much a player has moved for.

But who is the biggest signing of all time? Here's all you need to know.

What are the biggest women's transfers ever?

Naomi Girma of USA poses for a portrait during the official FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 portrait session at on July 17, 2023 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Naomi Girma is a star of the USWNT team (Image credit: Hannah Peters - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Naomi Girma's move in the 2025 winter transfer window has broken records.

Girma, who is number 29 on FourFourTwo's list of current best players, moved from National Women's Soccer League club San Diego Wave to Women's Super League defending champions Chelsea for a fee of around £880,000 means that she is the most expensive women's footballer of all time.

Naomi Girma of USA during the Women's international friendly between England and the USA at Wembley Stadium on November 30, 2024 in London, England.

Naomi Girma has won USWNT player of the year twice (Image credit: Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

Girma won the Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games with USWNT. The defender overtook Bay FC's Chelsea's signing of Racheal Kundananji's in the 2024 winter window.

The American club Blues paid a fee of around £685,000 to make Kundananji the most expensive women's transfer at the time. Kundananji is one of the great footballers of all-time.

Most women's football players are signed for free, with global spending on transfer fees only amounting to £0.88m in 2020, according to FIFA. Five transfers alone made up 75 per cent of that total.

Therefore, we can't be absolutely sure what all of the biggest women's transfers ever are, but FourFourTwo believes the following are the biggest transfer fees paid…

Biggest women's football transfers

  1. Naomi Girma, San Diego Wave to Chelsea (January 2025), £880,000
  2. Racheal Kundananji, Madrid CFF to Bay FC (February 2024), £685,000
  3. Keira Walsh, Man City to Barcelona (September 2022), £400,000
  4. Mayra Ramirez, Levante to Chelsea (January 2024), £384,000
  5. Jill Roord, Wolfsburg to Man City (July 2023), £300,000

Before the Kundananji signing, the biggest women's transfer took place was at the hands of Chelsea once again.

The Blues had two strikers ruled out for months because of ACL injuries in Mia Fishel and Sam Kerr. That saw Chelsea bring in Ramirez from Levante for an initial fee of £384,000 with the potential add-ons of £42,600.

Ramirez has more than proved her worth at the Blues, she has been a vital player - particularly in clinch games.

She unlocked Manchester City's defence in a match between the rivals in the 2024/25 WSL season.

Jessy Parker Humphreys is a freelance women's football writer. A Chelsea fan, Jessy has been following the women's game since being taken to the 2003/04 FA Cup final at Loftus Road and seeing Arsenal thrash Jessy's local side Charlton. Fortunately, Arsenal don't win quite as much as they used to – although Jessy hopes Charlton will also be back at the top of the women's game one day.

With contributions from