With a complete graphical and engine overhaul, Championship Manager 09 allows users to lead their teams to glory in a completely new version designed to give managers a true feeling of ‘total control’ over their teams and clubs.

Championship Manager 09 has dramatically improved navigation for the user and the game features an entirely new fully animated 3D match engine. Designed and developed to reflect and enhance a management experience, the engine uses over 500 motion-captured animations per player and has been built and developed specifically for a PC football management simulation.

In line with Company's strategy of developing the highest quality games, Eidos has decided to delay the release of Championship Manager from April 2009 to ensure we deliver the best game to our customers and maximise the potential for this franchise. As a result, the release date will move into the Company's next financial year.

This decision will have limited impact on the Company's profitability for the year ended 30 June 2009 as it had built in conservative expectations for this version of the game to reflect the re-establishment of the franchise. Eidos expect to meet its previously stated revenue forecast.

Phil Rogers, Chief Executive Officer, Eidos plc, said: "Eidos has a total commitment to producing the highest quality games and we believe by moving the release date of Championship Manager we will give the product the additional time needed to deliver a more polished and highly competitive game within the genre. We will not compromise on quality and we are confident that this decision is right for consumers and will benefit the continued popularity of this franchise."

Eidos Championship Manager 2009, developed by Beautiful Game Studios, will launch in 2009.