Championship Manager 2009 delayed

Championship Manager 2009 has been delayed until publisher Eidos' next financial year, which begins on 1st July.

"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," CEO Phil Rogers said.

"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."

CM2009 had previously been set for release on 24th April for the PC, and includes a 3D match engine for the first time, along with improved media and scouting options among a raft of changes designed to close the gap between the CM series and its main rival, Football Manager, from Sports Interactive and SEGA.

Last week we popped down to Beautiful Game Studios in sunny Wimbledon to see how it was shaping up, and came away relatively impressed.

We'll get onto Eidos shortly this morning to try and nail down a new release date.

Update: "Eidos has not announced a release date for Championship Manager 09 as yet." Given that it was clearly nearly ready though, we'd be surprised if it didn't make it some time before Football Manager, which traditionally releases later in the year.