Port Adelaide could soon become the best supported team in the AFL after securing a deal to show their games in China.

Chinese national broadcaster CCTV will screen Friday night's clash against Essendon on delay, but the round five fixture against Geelong on April 23 will be beamed live to hundreds of millions.

And a game against Hawthorn in July is also scheduled to be shown.

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For games screened in China, Port Adelaide players will wear special guernseys with their names written in Mandarin. They did the same in 2015 (right) during a match against Western Bulldogs

Port Adelaide Chinese player Chen Shaoliang signed for the club in March. He will now be the main focus of a 25-part documentary series screened by state broadcaster CCTV in China, as well as some Power games

Port Adelaide have been forging links with China for the past couple of seasons and featured Mandarin characters on the pitch when they played Western Bulldogs at the Etihad Stadium in 2015

As well as a new deal to show some of their AFL games in China, Power have a section on their official website specially for Chinese fans

Given the total TV audience in China is well over 1 billion, even a small market share for Port Adelaide's games could mean around 50 million viewers - more than double the entire population of Australia.

And new Chinese fans will have no problem learning the names of the players since they will be written in Mandarin on the back of the Port players' guernseys.

As well as showing games, CCTV will also broadcast a 25-part documentary series produced by Power that will air every Saturday night and feature the progress of Chinese player Chen Shaoliang, 23, who signed for Port in March.

He will play for the reserves in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) this season, but Power will be hoping Chinese viewers are captivated by his story as he battles to make it big in AFL.

Port Adelaide have been actively courting links to China for the past couple of seasons as they attempt to strike it big in an untapped overseas market.

President David Koch is keen for the club to actually play a game in China, possibly a NAB Challenge pre-season fixture in 2017.

However, Power have so far hit a stumbling block with that dream after failing to find a suitable venue that can host Aussie Rules - a game sometimes called aerial ping-pong.

Chinese player Chen Shaoliang, 23, (left) will play for the Port Adelaide reserves side this season in theSouth Australian National Football League

Talking about the new TV deal, chief executive Keith Thomas said: 'This is the first time that our great game of AFL will be shown on CCTV, the world’s biggest television network, and it could be the moment that we reflect on in 20 years’ time and say "That’s when China first fell in love with our great game".

'We are proud to be the AFL’s team in China and the AFL have been very supportive in this regard.'

And Thomas is delighted that Port Adelaide will soon be part of the biggest TV fixtures ever - potentially dwarfing the 3.9 million that watched the 2015 Grand Final between Hawthorn and West Coast Eagles.