(Photo : Getty Images) Sky Sports reached a three-year broadcast rights agreement with the Chinese Super League to air the China top flight’s games in the United Kingdom and Ireland.


British media outlet Sky Sports reached a three-year broadcast rights agreement with the Chinese Super League to air the China top flight's games in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The deal came after familiar England football stars such as Graziano Pellè, Gervinho, Ramires, and Obafemi Martins have recently joined the league.



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The CSL deal is set to add even more value to the current live football lineup in the website, which is also offering "more Premier League games than ever before" in the coming 2016-2017 season with Friday night football matches now available, as per SkySports.



"This is more great news for football fans as we get set for our biggest ever season on Sky Sports," said head of football Gary Hughes. "The Ping An Chinese Super League is attracting players from Europe and is creating a really exciting competition that will only add to an incredible line-up of live football on Sky Sports."



The first fixture to be featured via the agreement will be on Saturday at the Hongkou Stadium between Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, which features Martins, and Jiangsu Suning, who is set to welcome back Ramires from a four-match suspension.



The next game available will be the Guangzhou R&F versus Shanghai SIPG match on Sunday, which will be available on Sky Sports 3 at 12:30 pm.



Daily Mail Online indicated that the Chinese domestic first division league had "spent more money on transfer during the last window than" the Premier League with a total of £208 million spent on new signings as compared to the English top flight's £127 million during the same period.



The latest big-money transactions had been those of Pellè, after he was snagged by Shandong Luneng from Southampton for £12 million, and Hulk, who was bought from Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg for a new China transfer record of £46 million.



The two players are now included in the top five highest-paid footballers in the world along with Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Zlatan Ibrahimović, who is tied with Pellè for the fifth spot with a £260,000 per week income from Manchester United.



Hulk is tied with Messi at second place with a weekly earning of £327,000 while Ronaldo continues to be on top with a £346,000 a week salary. Neymar rounds it out at fourth with a weekly wage of £312,000.



Other former European stars now playing in the CSL include Alex Teixeira, Jackson Martinez, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Papiss Cissé, Gervinho, Asamoah Gyan and Demba Ba.




TagsChina Football, Chinese Super League, Chinese Super League 2016, Chinese Super League news, Sky Sports, China top flight