Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- English Premier League teams spent a record 530 million pounds ($1.1 billion) on players including Fernando Torres and Owen Hargreaves in 2007 after boosting broadcast income and attracting overseas investors, Deloitte & Touche LLP said.

Declared transfer payments by Premiership teams soared 60 percent during the year, while trades involving the top four English leagues reached 500 million pounds during the close season, 67 percent more than the record set in 2006, today's report by the accountant found.

Global broadcasters will pay a record 2.3 billion pounds over three seasons to screen games from the Premiership, the world's most popular soccer league. That's 70 percent more than under the previous agreements. The purchases of Liverpool, Aston Villa, West Ham, Manchester City and Sunderland by non-British citizens also stimulated transfers, Deloitte said.

``The rewards for remaining in the Premier League are greater than ever,'' Alex Byars, a senior consultant at Deloitte's Sports Business Group, said in a phone interview. ``Avoiding relegation is crucial as the financial gap between the top two divisions will be wider than ever in 2007-08.''

The club that finishes last among the 20 Premiership teams this season will receive 27 million pounds in television income, as much as Tottenham earned by finishing fifth in the last campaign.

European teams have two opportunities to trade players, between the end of the season and Aug. 31, and during the month of January.

Wage Pressure

Net spending on players by Premiership clubs was 140 million pounds more than in 2006, less than the 300 million pounds the league will receive in broadcast payments this year, Paul Rawnsley, director of Deloitte's Sports Business Group, said. That suggests wage rises may swallow up at least some of the remainder, Deloitte said.

Chelsea wasn't the biggest-spending team for the first time since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003. Champion Manchester United topped the table with an outlay of 51 million pounds on players including Hargreaves and Anderson.

Liverpool spent 50 million pounds -- half of it on record signing Torres -- while Tottenham and newly promoted Sunderland both paid out more than 35 million pounds.

Chelsea, Aston Villa and West Ham were among 12 clubs to spend more than 20 million pounds in the offseason, while the average fee for a player rose to 4 million pounds from 3.5 million pounds during the year, the report said. About half of all fees went to clubs outside England.

Top Spender

After the Premiership, the biggest-spending division was Spain's Primera Liga.

Real Madrid, the biggest team in the world by revenue, spent 80 million pounds during the close season, more than any team in Europe, on players including Arjen Robben and Gabriel Heinze from Chelsea and Manchester United respectively.

Barcelona and Atletico Madrid each invested 50 million pounds in their squads. Among Barcelona's purchases was Thierry Henry from Arsenal.

Unlike in England, teams in Spain negotiate their own broadcast rights. Madrid and Barcelona will earn around 100 million pounds a season from 2008-09, about twice the amount the highest-paid Premier League club can expect to receive, said Alan Switzer, a director in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

Italian, German and French teams contributed to spending of around 1 billion pounds by Europe's five biggest leagues during the transfer period that ended Aug. 31, Deloitte said.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Cone in London at jcone@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 3, 2007 21:20 EDT