Tuesday, September 5, 2023 at 8:30 PM• Bart DHanis • Last update: 21:05

While the transfer market closes on September 1 for most European competitions, there are still several countries each year in which the transfer market is open a lot longer. The market is also still open in wealthy Saudi Arabia. Which countries are concerned and on which day do these countries close the market? Football zone list them in this article.

On Tuesday morning it was announced that Owen Wijndal is temporarily leaving Ajax to strengthen Mark van Bommel’s Royal Antwerp FC. Tanguy Ndombélé and Davinson Sánchez also made the switch from Tottenham Hotspur to Galatasaray this weekend, while the transfer market in England was already closed. Should Ajax and the Spurs want to sign a replacement, a free transfer player is the only option.

Longer transfer window
Turkey and Belgium are not the only countries where the transfer market closes later than September 1. In Belgium, the market closes the shortest after September 1, namely on September 6. Shortly afterwards, the money locks of the clubs in Saudi Arabia also close: according to the website of the Saudi Football Association, they will close the market on September 7. A country where players regularly go after the end of the transfer period in the Netherlands is Mexico. No incoming transfers may be registered there until after 13 September. Quincy Promes is a player who made a transfer to Russia in 2021 after the Dutch market closed. This year, Russian clubs can do business until September 14. If players still haven’t made a transfer before this time and really want to leave, they can grab their last chance on September 15, just before the markets in Greece and Turkey also close.

There is therefore a good chance that a number of players will leave their current club next week. One of those players could be Mohamed Salah. The Liverpool superstar has been in the interest of the Saudi Al-Ittihad Club for weeks, where a mega contract is said to be ready for him. Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp said at a press conference last weekend that he would do everything he could to keep the Egyptian on board. The same Klopp also complained about the transfer market being open longer in Saudi Arabia, among others. The German coach is afraid that players will still opt for the big money in the Middle East and that the selling club will be left without a replacement. “UEFA or FIFA should do something about that. We have to protect football,” Klopp said.