Lucrative market
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As part of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s state visit, the German Football League and the China Media Group CMG reaffirmed their long-standing media partnership. Both sides signed a joint declaration of intent to extend the TV contract. In addition, the parties agreed on further areas of cooperation, including the promotion of young talent in football.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by DFL Managing Director Steffen Merkel and CMG President Shen Haixiong. Chancellor Merz and the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China, Li Qiang, were also present when the agreement was concluded. The DFL announced this.
That’s why the market in China is so interesting
According to the DFL, CMG is the largest national media group in the People’s Republic of China and reaches billions of viewers with its programming. The television station CCTV, which belongs to the group, showed Bundesliga games for the first time in 1995. CMG holds the broadcast rights to Bundesliga games in China up to and including the 2027/28 season. A continuation of the partnership is now considered very likely.
The Chinese market has been extremely interesting for German football for years. The DFL opened an office in Beijing in 2019, and some Bundesliga clubs such as FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund are also permanently active in China.
