Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is to award its broadcast rights in China to the leading sports marketing company, China Sports Media (CSM), for the remainder of the 2017-2020 commercial cycle.
CSM secured the rights for the AFC competitions, including the AFC Champions League, FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and AFC Asian Cup, after the AFC had no alternative but to terminate its contract with Le TV, which had been signed in August 2015.
The new deal was agreed with CSM Chairman Li Yidong and means that there will be uninterrupted coverage of this week's AFC Champions League fixtures in China.
CSM has pledged that it will work with CCTV and other Chinese channels to ensure the maximum possible reach for the AFC club and national team competitions.
AFC General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John said: "CSM has a strong reputation in China and its immediate desire to obtain the AFC rights shows how strong our properties are in the Chinese market.
“The AFC's competitions go from strength to strength year on year and this is also reflected in the audience numbers for our broadcasters across the continent.
“We look forward to working with CSM in the next few years as they are committed to providing the best and most comprehensive coverage of the AFC competitions for the tens of millions of Asian football fans in China.”