For sets of n points, n even, in general position in the plane, we consider straight-line drawings of perfect matchings on them. It is well known that such sets admit at least $$C_{n/2}$$
C
n
/
2
different plane perfect matchings, where $$C_{n/2}$$
C
n
/
2
is the n/2-th Catalan number. Generalizing this result we are interested in the number of drawings of perfect matchings which have k crossings. We show the following results. (1) For every $$k\le \frac{1}{64}n^2-\frac{35}{32}n\sqrt{n}+\frac{1225}{64}n$$
k
≤
1
64
n
2
-
35
32
n
n
+
1225
64
n
, any set with n points, n sufficiently large, admits a perfect matching with exactly k crossings. (2) There exist sets of n points where every perfect matching has at most $$\frac{5}{72}n^2-\frac{n}{4}$$
5
72
n
2
-
n
4
crossings. (3) The number of perfect matchings with at most k crossings is superexponential in n if k is superlinear in n. (4) Point sets in convex position minimize the number of perfect matchings with at most k crossings for $$k=0,1,2$$
k
=
0
,
1
,
2
, and maximize the number of perfect matchings with $$\left( {\begin{array}{c}n/2\\ 2\end{array}}\right) $$
n
/
2
2
crossings and with $${\left( {\begin{array}{c}n/2\\ 2\end{array}}\right) }\!-\!1$$
n
/
2
2
-
1
crossings.