LATEST NEWS Transfer window has become a highly anticipated feature of modern football. The actual transfers which include giant sums of money transferred are usually accompanied by transfer rumours, numerous debates by pundits and loads of social media hype.
But was it always this way? How was life before the introduction of the Transfer window? Let's find out.
Transfer Window
A transfer window is a predefined period(window) of time in which the football clubs of a particular country are allowed to trade players from their club to other clubs of the same country or another. It is referred to as “registration period” by FIFA.
There are two transfer windows in the world of football which are generally known as the summer transfer window and the winter transfer window.
The summer transfer window happens at the end of the season and lasts for 12 weeks whereas the winter transfer window happens midseason and lasts for only 4 weeks.
There are exceptions in some countries such as in the MLS and in some Nordic countries, where seasons begin in spring instead of the conventional autumn.
Introduction of the transfer window
The principle of the transfer window was formally adopted by European Football in 2002, as UEFA suggested a similar “registration period” across Europe from 2002-03 season. It was introduced to provide stability to the players and the clubs. The clubs and the managers could plan for a set period of time, knowing the players they had at their disposal.
Previously, players could be traded throughout the season until 31 March after which trading of players was thought to be detrimental to the fairness of the competitions.
Exact dates of the transfer window
The dates of the transfer window vary in various countries depending on the timing of their respective leagues.
The top European Leagues such as the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Seria A and Ligue 1 all have the same transfer window which lasts from 1 July to 2 September in the summer and 2 January to 31 January in the winter with some slight variations seen rarely.
Some major exceptions can be seen in the Leagues of China, USA and Brazil. Their transfer window dates are-
Preseason Midseason
China: 1 January- 28 February, 18 June- 13 July
USA: 7 February- 1 May, 10 July- 8 August
Brazil: 10 January- 2 April, 20 June- 20 July
Transfer Deadline Day
Transfer Deadline day is the final day of the transfer window and is usually the busiest. It is the time when the clubs really push to finalise their transfer formalities. Many deals are made or broken right at the transfer deadline day.
There are a number of variables involved in the transfer of a player from one club to another and disagreement on the part of one variable causes the deal to fall off.
Here are some of the historic player transfers that were made on deadline day-
Wayne Rooney- Everton to Manchester United (2004)
Luis Suarez- Ajax to Liverpool (2010)
Dele Alli- MK Dons to Tottenham (2015)
Gareth Bale- Real Madrid (2013)
