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Rob Woollard

The footballing exploits of Fan Zhiyi and Sun Jihai are set to be beamed live to millions in China following talks between Crystal Palace officials and mainland television.

 Phil Alexander, managing director of the English First Division side, said the club were close to signing a deal with CCTV which would lead to 20 Crystal Palace games being shown in China this season.

 Alexander said the club had been 'overwhelmed' by the level of interest shown by mainland football fans since Sun and Chinese international captain Fan signed for the club in August.

 'It's been incredible. The feedback has really been overwhelming,' Alexander told Sports Post.

 Encouraged by the interest from China, the Eagles' supremo travelled to the mainland last week on a fact-finding mission, meeting with officials and sponsors of Dalian Wanda and Shanghai Shenhua.

 He returned to England after watching Sunday's Senior Shield semi-finals at the Hong Kong Stadium.

 The club also had talks with CCTV regarding coverage of more matches.

 Last month, Crystal Palace's first-leg tie with Bury in the English League Cup was shown live on mainland television.

 'We are on the verge of signing a deal with CCTV. We have had talks and we're keen for it to happen. We're looking at showing 20 games live in China this season,' Alexander added.

 'Our understanding is that the English Premier League gets audience figures of about three per cent. When we played Bury the viewing figures were apparently something like 13 per cent.

 'In a country as big as China, that's a lot of fans.'  Although the joint-signings appear to have opened up several potentially lucrative commercial avenues for the club, Alexander stressed that the acquisition of Fan and Sun had been motivated by footballing rather than business reasons.

 'First and foremost, we signed them because they are good players who Terry Venables feels can do a job for the club,' Alexander said.

 'You only have to look at their record to see that - Fan's a former Asian Player of the Year, and Sun has regularly been the top-scorer in the league. It's only after they arrived that we really became aware of the other opportunities.'  As well as discussions concerning television coverage, Alexander said Crystal Palace were also considering a tour of the mainland - and possibly Hong Kong - at the end of the season.

 'We've discussed a tour to China at the end of next season. Nothing definite has been arranged yet though,' Alexander said.

 Asked if Palace had considered playing in Hong Kong, Alexander added: 'That's always a possibility. We'd want to determine the level of interest first.'  To cope with the extra interest from mainland fans, Crystal Palace are also planning to translate their Internet website into Chinese.

 'We're working on that at the moment. We've no doubt there is a demand for it from fans in China,' Alexander said.

 The success of Fan and Sun at the south London outfit could also pave the way for further Chinese players to play in England.

 'I don't really want to make predictions, but I do know there are a lot of good players in China,' Alexander added.

 'Fan Zhiyi and Sun Jihai have shown that they are more than capable of holding their own in other leagues.' 



Palace games to go live into China