China Central Television (CCTV) signed Sunday an exclusive deal with Chinese Football Association (CFA) to broadcast the games of all the country's national teams.

The deal, which covers the years from 2005 till 2010, gives CCTV the exclusive right to broadcast the games of Chinese men's and women's national teams of all ages at home and abroad. The financial details of the deal was not disclosed.

The agreement came when the Chinese football has been beset by damaging allegations ranging from bribed referees, match-fixing aswell as illegal gambling involving footballers.

Football fans are turned off by the scandals, distancing themselves from the stadiums and shifting their attention to the televised matches of European leagues.

The Chinese Super League, launched more than one year ago, subsequently lost its main sponsor Simens, the German conglomerate. This season's kick-off was also postponed a month toallow clubs to look for financial backing as they struggled with falling ticket sales.

Another major setback for Chinese football is the national teamfailed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

But both CCTV and CFA hoped the deal could help beleaguered Chinese football overcome the current slump before a win-win situation is achieved for both parties.

"We hope that both sides could join hands to make the national games more influential and improve the games broadcasting quality.We also hope the deal could make all the national teams stronger,"said Jiang Hepin, chief of CCTV sports news department at a signing ceremony here.

CCTV could at least got inspiration from their French counterparts which signed a broadcasting deal with the national team of France although they failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup Finals in the United States in 1993.

"Despite the failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, France won the title of the World Cup four years later. It is unlikely for China to achieve the same feat in such a short period, but we wish it could be as quick as possible,"said Sun Yusheng, deputy chief of CCTV.

Source: Xinhua