text: Latin American Herald Tribune - China's CCTV Acquires All-Media Rights for FIFA Events until 2022
  China's CCTV Acquires All-Media Rights for FIFA Events until 2022
  BEIJING – China's state broadcaster CCTV acquired exclusive media rights in the country for all FIFA events between 2018 and 2022, including the soccer World Cups in Russia and Qatar, the channel announced Wednesday.
  The agreement between FIFA and CCTV, that has been the sole broadcaster of every World Cup in the country since 1978, also includes broadcast rights for the 2019 Women's World Cup in France and the 2021 Confederations Cup to be held in Asia, although the exact venue is yet undetermined.
  "The partnership shows our support for FIFA as well as our efforts to help raise the level of Chinese soccer," CCTV's Deputy Editor-in-Chief Peng Jianming told state-run news agency Xinhua.
  China's national team – which had qualified in the 2002 World Cup but was eliminated in the group stage – is already out of the 2018 qualifiers despite sustained efforts by the government to transform it into an elite, international team.