English Premier League clubs spent a record £835m ($1.4 billion) on hiring players during the summer transfer window as they reinvested cash from the latest round of broadcast deals.

That total was almost double the 425 million paid out by teams in Spain’s La Liga, the next highest spending country, according to figures released by business services group Deloitte yesterday.

The Premier League generates more money than any domestic soccer competition while Spain is home to Real Madrid and Barcelona, the two clubs who enjoy the highest revenues thanks to the way TV cash is distributed.

Competition in Britain between BSkyB and BT has driven up the value of television rights, while the Premier Lea-gue also benefits from lucrative TV deals around the rest of the world.

Two of the biggest headline makers from the World Cup moved to Spain, deals which helped to finance other moves in a ripple effect across the European continent.

Colombian James Rodriguez, top goalscorer at the World Cup, joined Real Madrid from Monaco for some €80m ($105m), while Uruguay’s Luis Suarez moved to Barcelona from Liverpool for around £65m.

Away from England and Spain, spending by teams in other top European leagues was more muted.

It totalled £260m in Serie A, £250m in the Bundesliga and £100m in Ligue 1.

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