Schalke top as Bundesliga payments to agents revealed

BERLIN (AP) — Schalke spent more on fees for players' agents than any other soccer club in Germany over the last two transfer periods.

Schalke paid agents 16.9 million euros ($19.2 million) between March 15, 2015 and March 15, 2016, the German Football Federation (DFB) and German Football League (DFL) said in figures released Monday.

That's more than Bayern Munich (16.7 million euros), Borussia Dortmund (15.8 million euros) and Volkswagen-backed Wolfsburg (12.9 million euros).

Schalke is currently 7th in the Bundesliga.

Promoted Darmstadt (761,000 euros) was the only topflight club to pay out less than a million euros on agent fees.

Leipzig, backed by an energy drinks company, spent 4.2 million euros on agents in the same period, putting it ahead of the next biggest spender in the second tier, Freiburg, which paid 2.5 million euros.

Altogether, the 18 clubs of the top two divisions spent 127.8 million euros on agent fees over the period, an average of 7.1 million per club.

The DFB and DFL released figures for the first time to comply with new FIFA regulations.