When the January 2022 transfer window opens and closes for the EPL and other top leagues

Transfer deals and big money moves capture the imaginations of football fans around the world and the rumor mill really becomes overwhelmed as the transfer windows open.

There are two windows per season in which clubs are allowed to make deals and swaps, with the final hours of those windows often creating drama. During the summer period, teams will replenish and retool for next season, while in the winter, clubs will fill in holes caused by injury or other urgent squad needs.

The 2021-22 winter transfer window will take place in January for the English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 and clubs across Europe. The winter window can often be hit or miss depending on player availability in that particular year. Sometimes it can be difficult to remove a player from another club in January, especially if that player is in the middle of a productive season. But in other years, there are bargains that can change.

This January window will see a host of major clubs going live. The new Tottenham and Manchester United managers are likely to leave their mark in the open, and now Newcastle are certain to recharge in a bid to avoid relegation.

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Barcelona may be short on cash, but they will still be desperate to do everything they can to get into the top four of La Liga is said to have replaced Ferran Torres. And AC Milan (Italy) and Sevilla (Spain) may feel that they are only a stretch or two away from challenging for the title.

Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s winter transfer window in January 2022.

When will the January 2022 transfer window open?

The January 2022 transfer window runs for an entire month: Open at the beginning of the month and close at the end of January. However, the exact dates vary slightly between leagues.

In the UK, Premier League clubs will be able to complete transfers for an entire month, from 1 January 2022 to 31 January 2022. That timeframe applies to all clubs. sets in the UK, including the Championship, League One and League Two.

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The January transfer window also opens on January 1, 2022 for clubs in Germany and France. But because January 1 falls on a Saturday, some leagues have opted for a slight change. Things start a little later in Spain and Italy, with the transfer registration period in La Liga and Serie A set to begin on January 3, 2022, which is the first Monday of the month.

When does the January 2022 transfer window close?

January 31, 2022 is the closing date of the January 2022 transfer window in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1.

Registration closes at 11pm GMT in the UK (6pm ET), but every tournament can set its own schedule.

Here are the January transfer deadlines below:

How the winter transfer window works

The transfer window – officially known as the ‘registration period’ by world governing body FIFA – is the part of the football calendar in which clubs can complete the registration of players, including temporary loan contracts.

Teams could theoretically make player trades at any time, but they could only register and “activate” new players during a specific transfer period. For that reason, clubs mainly focus on buying back players during the transfer window, otherwise they will have to wait for the next registration round to open before officially adding them to the squad.

This works, for example, with Barcelona and free agent defender Dani Alves, who signed a contract with Barcelona in November 2021, but he can only officially play in matches. The competition starts on January 3, 2022, when the transfer window (or registration period) opens in Spain.