The world soccer ruling body, FIFA, has said Univision Communications Inc. along with the ABC and ESPN TV channels have paid a record $425 million to broadcast the biggest soccer events, mainly the World Cup finals, between 2007 and 2014.

The separate agreements also require the media companies to telecast all other FIFA events for the United States, and to do "substantial promotions" for those events, reported Reuters.

Univision paid $325 million in cash for exclusive Spanish-language rights to broadcast the competitions throughout the US and Puerto Rico, while the Walt Disney-owned ABC and ESPN paid $100 million for English-language rights.

The two deals are the biggest FIFA has ever struck for broadcast rights in a single country.

The agreement allows the stations to air the 2010 and 2014 World Cup finals and the FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments in 2007 and 2011, in addition to 11 other events held under the aegis of the FIFA.

FIFA's director of marketing and TV Jerome Valcke said the world soccer governing organization was attracted to the ESPN and ABC offers because of ESPN's ability to carry programming in a number of mediums, including the Internet and cell-phones.