Pioneers in the international transfer market

Norsk Toppfotball, consisting of Norway's top division, Eliteserien, and second tier, OBOS-ligaen, signed the very first league-wide deal with TransferRoom in 2019.

It meant that all 32 clubs across the two leagues gained direct access to the decision makers and real-time transfer market intelligence from over 700 clubs across 100 leagues.

Major League Soccer, the Danish Superliga, Liga MX, the 3. Bundesliga and Venezuela's Liga FUTVE are among the leagues to have followed in their footsteps.

Norsk Toppfotball has now extended the agreement, and the reason why was clear: because the clubs want the platform.

"Norway was the first country to establish this league solution. The majority of the clubs are very satisfied with the products offered by TransferRoom and have therefore chosen to renew the agreement," said Erik Hoftun, the Sporting Director of NTF and the Norwegian Professional Football League (NPFL).

Øystein Neerland, the former Sports Manager at NTF who is the CEO of Eliteserien side Molde FK, said: "For Norwegian clubs, especially the smaller ones, it’s difficult to get direct access to European football clubs. TransferRoom has been a very effective system to keep in touch with decision makers in clubs and a very effective way to put players on the transfer market. It’s updated with live, real time information meaning you can meet your squad needs quickly."

Jonas Ankersen, the CEO and Founder of TransferRoom, added: “The Norwegian league has committed long-term to TransferRoom because of the clear value the platform has provided their clubs in the transfer market.

“That has given them a competitive advantage over teams in other leagues, but just as importantly league-wide deals that give everyone access to TransferRoom also make the domestic transfer market more efficient and transparent.”

Huge international growth for Norwegian football

The access to the key decision makers in world football and reliable, accurate information on player availability and clubs' market needs has contributed to a period of huge growth for Norway's top two leagues, especially for the transfer fees in and out of the Eliteserien.

In 2018, the last year before they joined TransferRoom, the average transfer fee out for Eliteserien clubs was €59,462 and the average fee for an incoming transfer was €33,254. 

In 2023, the average fee out was €556,257, nearly 10 times more, and the average fee in was €177,582, almost six times as much.

That's also been evident in the deals Norwegian clubs have done with the help of TransferRoom.

In 2020, Norwegian sides did 14 deals via TransferRoom, four of which were with a fee at an average of €425k.

And the 10 international deals from that 14 was a 6% share of all the moves Norwegian clubs made with foreign clubs during the year.

Fast forward to 2023 and 54 deals were done through the platform, 17 were with a fee at an average of €1.1m.

And 31 of those were international deals, with the share of transfers with foreign clubs done via TransferRoom up to 14%.

Biggest international transfers by Norwegian clubs

There have been some headline incomings and outgoings within this surge in fees.

Jayden Nelson moved from Major League Soccer's Toronto FC to Rosenborg BK for €1m. Rosenborg is a club which also loaned Noah Holm to Stade de Reims and has opened up the international market through the platform.

"You can see what other clubs need," Mikael Dorsin, the Sporting Director at Rosenborg said. "You can pitch players. You can also check the value of the players, to understand the market. Then you can build your team around that.

"It's important for us for both selling and buying players. TransferRoom is more about making the connection with the right people, so you get the answers straight away. I think that's the most important part when you do business, to get the connection with the right people."

The biggest sale was Joel Mvuka's €5.5m switch to FC Lorient from 2023 champions FK Bodø/Glimt.

In fifth place was Stromsgodset IF's €1m sale of Johan Hove in January 2023. The midfielder's contract was set to expire in the summer. Usually in that scenario they would've had to settle for losing him on a free or for a nominal fee. 

But Stromsgodset Sporting Director Jostein Flo was able to drive interest in Hove and secure their biggest transfer fee for a player since the 2015-16 season.

"Johan Hove was Bosman, the contract in Norway is a little bit lower, and when all the clubs in Europe try to buy them, they will not sign in Norway so we have to sell," Flo said.

"There was a short time on the contract and because of meetings at a TransferRoom Summit, we had three or four clubs that he could choose from in the end, and it was very important for us.

"Without TransferRoom I don't think we could sell him."