Football clubs in France made more collective profit last year than in any other country in the world, a new Fifa report has revealed.

Figures in the Global Transfer Market Report show that despite the big spending of Paris St-Germain - bankrolled by their Qatari owners - French clubs made a net profit of $246.2m (£196m) in 2016.

That strikes a dramatic difference with France's so-called 'Big 5' rivals - England, Italy, Germany and Spain - and spendthrift clubs in China.

Only in Spain, which saw net profit of $45.8m, did clubs from one of Europe's other premier football leagues make money from the transfer market in 2016.

Those to spend the most were found in England - driven by the riches Premier League - where there was a staggering net loss of $1.06bn.

Indeed, it was from clubs in England that France made the majority of its profit - selling players worth $227m to the Premier League, the Championship and below.

The level of spending in France does reflect the revenue it makes elsewhere. A separate report by Deloitte last week showed that Ligue 1 clubs had a combined revenue of €1.4bn ($1.65bn) for the 2015/16 season, compared to €4.4bn in the Premier League and €2.4bn in Germany.

Clubs in France, Portugal and Brazil made the most money (Fifa)

Clubs in Spain saw the highest gross income from transfer fees - worth $554.5m - but they also spent $508.7m, the third highest in the world.

The rapid growth of the Chinese Super League can be seen in the $451.3m spent by clubs in China last year - a 168.2 per cent growth on the year before. In 2015 China was way down in 20th in terms of transfer spending - in 2016 it jumped up to fifth.

China overtook France to break into the top five spending leagues in the world (Fifa)

The most valuable transfer stream was between Germany and England. Clubs in the Bundesliga and below made $238.7m by selling to English clubs in 2016. With clubs in France, Spain and Italy following closely behind.

The Premier League hoovers up talent from its 'Big 5' rivals (Fifa)

Fifa's report details every transfer that took place between clubs from two different associations using data from its International Transfer Matching System (ITMS).