Eidos and Beautiful Game Studios have announced that the next version of Championship Manager, the leading name in football management simulation, will launch in April 2009.

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

"We have a whole host of new features which we're incredibly proud of," said Roy Meredith, General Manager of Championship Manager. "This is a new beginning for the Championship Manager franchise and we are 100% focused on getting it right, that's why we have had a longer development time than any previous version of the game."

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

"This is our opportunity to give consumers a reason to believe in Championship Manager once again," continued Meredith. "We want everyone to test this out by trying the demo which is out in March. Try the demo and make up your own minds."