[aj] At the time, there was little to no money in women's football due to the limited number of professional leagues, and financial news focused on player salaries; Domingues received greater attention for the reported record salary she was to receive, though she ended up never playing for Rayo Vallecano, the club that signed her, due to non-Spanish players being unable to play in the Spanish women's league at the time.
[49] When, almost a year prior to Harder's transfer, Sam Kerr had also moved to Chelsea, focus was still on her large salary.
[104] Harder gave similar comments when her record was beaten two years later by Barcelona buying Keira Walsh from Manchester City for £400,000 ($457,000; €470,000) in September 2022.
"[105] The Athletic and BBC Sport wrote that Walsh's transfer "shifted the ecosystem", having a significant impact on the market of women's football,[106][107] that it showed "even the top clubs are not immune to the risk of losing their best players to rivals who are now willing to spend".
[110] Following this and a slew of other six-figure transfer fees in England's Women's Super League (WSL) in 2023, some WSL managers criticised the rapid spending growth of the larger clubs; in September 2023, England's head of women's football, Baroness Sue Campbell, said that future limits on spending would be introduced.
[111] Chelsea still made some large signings in January 2024, including buying forward Mayra Ramírez from Levante for what could have increased to a new world record fee of £426,000 ($544,000; €500,000) with bonuses.
[112] Only weeks later, this fee was considerably beaten by another striker transferring out of the Liga F, when NWSL side Bay FC triggered the release clause of Madrid CFF's Racheal Kundananji to pay what would total £685,000 ($862,000; €805,000).
[113] With the growth of the women's transfer market and six-figure fees becoming more common, sports media began speculating how soon a club would surpass the 1 million barrier.
[114] Increased revenues since 2022 and a changing landscape of women's football – which saw clubs want to secure players with longer contracts and minimum-fee release clauses – also contributed to the continued growth in transfer fees.
[115] In summer 2024, Chelsea and Arsenal both made seven-figure offers in Euros for Barcelona players (Aitana Bonmatí and Walsh respectively), with both declined.
[7] While the impact of the NWSL's spending power had been noted, pundits had predicted it would be a player from the Liga F to reach the milestone first.
[130][131] Victoria Pickett and Crystal Dunn appear in this list twice, the latter for two allocation money-involved trades in one day as part of a three-team transaction.
The largest allocation-money transaction was for forward María Sánchez, who requested a trade for personal reasons communicated to her club, Houston Dash, shortly after it gave her the most expensive NWSL contract; the club obliged and traded her to San Diego Wave in exchange for an overall $500,000 in cash-equivalent credits, plus two years of international roster slots, in April 2024.
There were criticisms of the Compensation List, as few clubs wanted to pay and it was seen to encourage young talents to leave the country.