Player wages have eaten up most of the money involved in international transfer deals during the past two years, according to Fifa TMS figures.
Its Transfer Matching System (TMS) estimates that since 2013 some 57% of funds have gone into stars' pockets.
Actual transfer fees have accounted for just 41% of the cash, and agent commissions the remaining 2%.
Football clubs in Europe account for four-fifths of the total money spent on wages in those global deals.
The new figures refer to international transfers from one country to another, and do not cover "domestic" transfers between two clubs in the same nation.
In cash terms it means that over the past two years, from international deals, $16.5bn (£10.8bn) has gone on player salaries, $12bn in transfer fees, and $700m to player agents.
"Most of the transfers discussed in the media involve large transfer fees, but in reality, only 13% of all worldwide transfers involve the payment of a fee," said Fifa TMS General Manager Mark Goddard.
"Salaries, though, are part of every single contract."
English spending doubled
Increasingly lucrative TV deals have given top-flight English clubs the financial muscle to bring in a plethora of global stars from overseas.
Big signings this summer have included Manchester City's purchase of Kevin De Bruyne from Wolfsburg for £52m and Nicolas Otamendi from Valencia for £32m, while rivals Manchester United bought Anthony Martial from Monaco for £36m and Memphis Depay from PSV for £25m.
And Fifa's analysis of the spending on international transfers during the recently ended summer transfer window shows that English clubs spent a total of $996m (£653m) - more than double any other country.
Meanwhile French clubs spent $270m - a 65% increase on summer 2014, but Spanish clubs, another traditional home for glamour players, particularly from South America, saw summer spending decrease by 23% on 2014, to $495m.
Those three nations, plus Germany and Italy, make up what are known as the "Big Five" European leagues.
Italian boost
These big five countries recorded a total of 1,340 incoming international transfers during this summer's transfer window, an increase of 4% when compared with the same period in 2014.
And the total international transfer spending across these nations reached $2,396m, an increase of 2% on last year's summer window, driven by increased spending in Italy as well as France.
Former Italian football club legend Gianluca Vialli, who starred for Sampdoria, Juventus, and Chelsea, said there were a number of reasons for the increased spending on transfers in Italy, a country where the football economy has been seen as stagnant compared with England or Germany.
"The Italian league has got better TV deals than it previously had, so there is more money available," Mr Vialli told the BBC website at the Soccerex football conference in Manchester.
