Chinese viewers will be able to watch English club rugby, complete with a commentary in Mandarin, for the first time on Christmas Eve when Leicester Tigers host London-based Saracens on CCTV5+.

The game will be followed in future weeks by at least 25 other games from the Aviva Premiership and the semi-finals and final of the competition.

Rugby is primarily played in former British colonies, as well as France, Italy, and Argentina, but it is growing elsewhere. Japan, in particular, has had recent international success, defeating several established rugby powers.

Japan will host the 2019 Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Olympics, which will again feature a rugby medal, competed for by teams of seven, rather than the traditional game played by teams of 15.

World Rugby has invested more than $100 million in making rugby more popular in China. In 2015, there were 76,000 players in China. In 2016, the number had ballooned to 136,000. World Rugby hopes to have one million players in China by 2022. The governing body hopes the sport will become increasingly popular as leisure becomes more important to Chinese people.

Rugby has much more physical contact than soccer and can maintain a high level of tension throughout the course of an 80-minute game.

The number of potential players in China will not necessarily give it an advantage. The sport has been dominated by New Zealand for decades despite the country only having a population of under 5 million.

Dominic Hayes, commercial director at Premiership Rugby, said the signing of the broadcast deal was a very significant day in the history of Premiership Rugby.

“Launching on free-to-air TV in China is part of our strategic goal of increasing the global impact of Premiership Rugby and helping to grow the game in new countries around the world,” Hayes said. “CCTV5+ reaches 400 million households and this will lead to a huge increase in rugby’s exposure, in a new and very exciting market.”

The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the only rugby union tournament to have been broadcast in China.

Jacob Taylor, international director of Beijing Elite Rugby, which will provide the Mandarin commentary for the games, said the broadcast deal will be a breakthrough for the future of rugby in China.

“World-class rugby union will now be available free-to-air in millions of Chinese households on a weekly basis,” he said. “Beijing Elite Rugby is very excited to bring Premiership Rugby to CCTV5+, as part of our commitment to growing the culture of rugby in China from the ground-up.”

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