Football Manager 2009
Encyclopedia
Football Manager 2009 is a football manager simulation video game. It was released on PC
, Mac
and PlayStation Portable
on 14 November 2008 in Europe and on 18 November 2008 in North America. As in the case of other recent releases in the Football Manager
series, the game is sold as Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009 in the United States
and Canada
.
The demo of the game was released on 2 November via the News of the World
, BitTorrent and Steam. An Arsenal
-branded version of the game has also been released.
.
The main new feature to the game is the 3D match engine. This can now be watched fullscreen, with a widescreen option available. Other features include being able to play as a female or male manager, improvements to the interaction between the manager and his assistant manager, improved mid-match team talks and tactics, training players to have preferred moves and transfer rumours. The player rating will have a decimal point, eg. 6.8 or 8.3 instead of 7 or 8. There will also be press conferences
, where you can build up a rapport with the journalists, and the finance and transfer systems have been completely reworked. The game is set to feature more players than ever before, with over 350,000 in the database at the time of the game's announcement. The PC version has a skin similar to the one used in Football Manager 2008
.
The handheld version will include a 2D match engine for the first time, and the game will be shipped with two skins; a light and a dark alternative.
The game suffered setbacks on and before launch day, most notably many users found themselves unable to activate the game due to servers providing activation for the DRM system coming under distributed denial of service attacks.
Asia and Oceania
UK & Ireland England Northern Ireland
Republic of Ireland Scotland
Wales
Scandinavia Denmark
Norway
Sweden
Rest of Europe
Belgium Bulgaria
Croatia Czech Republic
Finland
France
Germany
1 Greece
Hungary Iceland Israel Italy Netherlands
Poland Portugal
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Slovakia Slovenia Spain
Switzerland
Turkey Ukraine
North America
South America
1 - Germany's national team is not allowed to be included in the game due to licensing rights being owned by EA Sports
' "FIFA" series
, whilst the Japanese J-League and the Japanese national team are not allowed in the game at all due to Konami
's purchase of the exclusive rights for their Pro Evolution Soccer
series.
copy protection with its 5 activation limit.
activation servers that prevented purchasers from activating their games. Since the provided telephone activation lines were also ran using the activation servers, they were also out of action. In response, SEGA issued a press release apologising for the problems faced by purchasers.
As of May 2011 the Game can No Longer be activated as the Site that Deals with Product Activation of Football Manager 2009 has Shut Down.
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, Mac
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
and PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
on 14 November 2008 in Europe and on 18 November 2008 in North America. As in the case of other recent releases in the Football Manager
Football Manager
Football Manager is a series of football management simulation games developed by Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game began its life in 1992 as Championship Manager; however, following the break-up of their partnership with original publishers Eidos Interactive, Sports Interactive...
series, the game is sold as Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
The demo of the game was released on 2 November via the News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
, BitTorrent and Steam. An Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
-branded version of the game has also been released.
New features
Some of the new features and box art for the game were announced via a series of videos on 3 September 2008, other new features have been released via a series of podcasts and online blogs. It is the first game in the series to be released on DVD-ROM rather than on CD-ROMCD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
.
The main new feature to the game is the 3D match engine. This can now be watched fullscreen, with a widescreen option available. Other features include being able to play as a female or male manager, improvements to the interaction between the manager and his assistant manager, improved mid-match team talks and tactics, training players to have preferred moves and transfer rumours. The player rating will have a decimal point, eg. 6.8 or 8.3 instead of 7 or 8. There will also be press conferences
News conference
A news conference or press conference is a media event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask questions. A joint press conference instead is held between two or more talking sides.-Practice:...
, where you can build up a rapport with the journalists, and the finance and transfer systems have been completely reworked. The game is set to feature more players than ever before, with over 350,000 in the database at the time of the game's announcement. The PC version has a skin similar to the one used in Football Manager 2008
Football Manager 2008
Football Manager 2008 is the principal title of the 2008 edition of the Football Manager series of football management simulation games by Sports Interactive. The version for the United States and Canada is entitled Worldwide Soccer Manager 2008, while the South American version is Fútbol Manager...
.
The handheld version will include a 2D match engine for the first time, and the game will be shipped with two skins; a light and a dark alternative.
The game suffered setbacks on and before launch day, most notably many users found themselves unable to activate the game due to servers providing activation for the DRM system coming under distributed denial of service attacks.
Playable leagues and club cups
Africa- CAF Champions LeagueCAF Champions LeagueThe CAF Champions League is an annual international club football competition run by the Confederation of African Football . The top club sides from Africa's football leagues are invited to participate in this competition, which is the premier club football competition on the continent and the...
- CAF Confederation CupCAF Confederation CupThe CAF Confederation Cup is an international club association football competition run by the Confederation of African Football.-Qualification:...
- CAF Super CupCAF Super CupThe CAF Super Cup is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. The competition was first held in 1993 and is organised by the Confederation of African Football...
South Africa
Asia and Oceania
- AFC Champions LeagueAFC Champions LeagueThe AFC Champions League is the premier Asian club football competition hosted annually by Asian Football Confederation . The tournament is contested among the top thirty-two clubs from the top 10 Asian leagues, two of which must qualify through the playoffs...
- AFC CupAFC CupThe AFC Cup is an annual international association football competition between domestic clubs sides run by the Asian Football Confederation . Qualification to the competition is to clubs from AFC-affiliated countries which fall into the AFC's 'developing nations' category as laid out in their...
- AFC President's CupAFC President's CupThe AFC President's Cup is an annual international association football competition between domestic clubs sides run by the Asian Football Confederation .-Competition format:...
- AFF Club Championship
- A3 Champions CupA3 Champions CupA3 Champions Cup was an annual football tournament sanctioned by the East Asian Football Federation. It began in 2003, involving the league champions of China, Japan and South Korea. The host nation also invited an additional team, making this a four team tournament. South Korea was the most...
- OFC Champions LeagueOFC Champions LeagueThe Oceania Champions League 2007 was held in January 2007 with six clubs from five member associations of the Oceania Football Confederation: New Zealand, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Fiji and the Solomon Islands. The six clubs were split into two groups of three for home and away matches.Auckland City...
A-LeagueA-LeagueThe A-League is the top Australasian professional football league. Run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia , it was founded in 2004 following the folding of the National Soccer League and staged its inaugural season in 2005–06. It is sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company...
(Hyundai A-League) ChinaChinese Super LeagueThe Chinese Football Association Super League , commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the Pirelli Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association football in China, operating under the auspices of the...
Hong KongHong Kong First Division LeagueHong Kong First Division League is the top division football league in Hong Kong which was established in 1908, the oldest in Asia. It does not affiliate to any football leagues in the People's Republic of China.-Competition format:...
IndiaI-LeagueThe I-League is an Indian football league for association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 14 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation of two teams each year with the I-League 2nd Division...
IndonesiaIndonesian Super LeagueIndonesia Super League is the highest level of Liga Indonesia. ISL is a professional competition for football clubs in Indonesia. This competition is managed by PT Liga Indonesia, under supervision of the Football Association of Indonesia...
Malaysia Singapore South KoreaK-LeagueThe Korea Professional Football League is South Korea's only fully professional association football league. At the top of the South Korean football league system, it is the country's highest and most prestigious level of football competition currently contested by 16 clubs.-Establishment:The...
UK & Ireland England Northern Ireland
IFA Premiership
The IFA Premiership – formerly the Irish Premier League, and before that the Irish Football League–and still known in popular parlance simply as the Irish League, is the national football league in Northern Ireland, and was historically the league for the whole of Ireland. Clubs in the league are...
Republic of Ireland Scotland
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...
Wales
- Setanta Shield
Scandinavia Denmark
Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest association football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams to be relegated, which proves to be one of the...
Norway
Norwegian Premier League
Tippeligaen is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. The league is also unofficially known under its neutral name Eliteserien , although the name has never been official...
Sweden
Allsvenskan
Allsvenskan is a Swedish professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Swedish football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Superettan...
Rest of Europe
- UEFA Champions LeagueUEFA Champions LeagueThe UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
- UEFA CupUEFA CupThe UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
- UEFA Intertoto CupUEFA Intertoto CupThe UEFA Intertoto Cup, also abbreviated as UI Cup and originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition for European clubs that had not qualified for one of the two major UEFA competitions, the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. The competition was discontinued...
- UEFA Super Cup Austria BelarusBelarusian Premier League-Soviet era champions:*1934 BVO *1935 BVO *1936 BVO *1937 Dinamo *1938 Dinamo *1939 Dinamo *1940 DKA *1941-44 unknown...
Belgium Bulgaria
Bulgarian A Professional Football Group
The Bulgarian A Professional Football Group commonly known as A PFG is the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The league is sponsored by Victoria FATA Insurance and therefore is officially known as Victoria A Football Group since 2011...
Croatia Czech Republic
Gambrinus Liga
The Gambrinus liga is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 16 clubs, operating a system of promotion and relegation with the Czech 2. Liga. Seasons run from August to May,...
Finland
Veikkausliiga
Veikkausliiga is the premier division of Finnish football, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Veikkausliiga is currently ranked as the 28th best league in Europe. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkaus, hence the league's name...
France
Ligue 1
Ligue 1 , is the French professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2....
Germany
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
1 Greece
Super League Greece
The Superleague Greece is the highest professional football league in Greece. It was formed on July 16, 2006 and replaced Alpha Ethniki at the top of the Greek football league system. The league consists of 16 teams and runs from August to May, with teams playing 30 games each...
Hungary Iceland Israel Italy Netherlands
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie is the highest football league in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956 two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is currently ranked the ninth best league in Europe by UEFA....
Poland Portugal
Portuguese Liga
The Primeira Liga , formerly called Primeira Divisão, currently named Liga ZON Sagres after their main sponsors, is the top professional association football division of the Portuguese football league system...
Romania
Liga I
Liga I, or in full, due to sponsorship reasons, Liga I Bergenbier, is the top division of the Romanian football league system. Before the 2006/2007 season, it was called Divizia A, but the name had to be changed following the discovery that someone else had registered the trademark "Divizia A"...
Russia
Russian Premier League
The Russian Premier League , currently called SOGAZ Russian Football Championship due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of Russian football. There are 16 teams in the competition...
Serbia
Serbian Superliga
Serbian SuperLiga is a Serbian professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Serbian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 16 clubs, operating a system of promotion and relegation with the Serbian First League...
Slovakia Slovenia Spain
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...
Switzerland
Swiss Super League
The Swiss Super League or Axpo Super League is the top tier of the Swiss Football League. The Swiss Super League is currently ranked 16th according to UEFA's ranking of league coefficients, which is based upon Swiss team performances in European competitions.-Names:-Participating clubs:The teams...
Turkey Ukraine
Ukrainian Premier League
The Ukrainian Premier League is the highest division of Ukrainian annual football championship. As the Supreme League it was founded in 1991 after the fold of the Soviet Union's Vysshaya Liga. In 2008 it was reformed into a more autonomous entity of the Football Federation of Ukraine and changed...
North America
- CONCACAF Champions LeagueCONCACAF Champions LeagueThe CONCACAF Champions League is the annual international club football championship for teams from the CONCACAF region ....
- CONCACAF Champions Cup
- Canadian ChampionshipCanadian ChampionshipThe Canadian Championship—known as the Nutrilite Canadian Championship for sponsorship reasons—is an annual soccer tournament contested by premier Canadian professional teams...
(Written Canada Champions Cup) - SuperligaNorth American SuperLigaThe SuperLiga was an official North American association football competition between teams from the Primera División of Mexico and Major League Soccer of the United States and Canada, the top divisions in each country. The competition was sanctioned by CONCACAF, U.S...
Major League SoccerMajor League SoccerMajor League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
MexicoPrimera División de MéxicoThe Primera División Profesional , known simply as the Primera División, is the top level of the Mexican football league system and is administered by the Mexican Football Federation. It was established in 1943 and as of 2011 has 18 clubs. Up to June 2011, it was divided into three groups competing...
South America
- Copa Libertadores
- Copa SudamericanaCopa SudamericanaThe Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana de Clubes , known simply as the Copa Sudamericana , is an annual international club football competition organized by the CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second most prestigious club competition in South American football. CONCACAF clubs were invited between 2004...
- Recopa SudamericanaRecopa SudamericanaThe Recopa Sudamericana is an annual football match-up between the reigning champions of the previous year's Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana, South America's premier club competitions....
ArgentinaPrimera División ArgentinaThe Primera División is a professional football league in Argentina. It is the country's premier football division and is at the top of the Argentine football league system. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Primera B Nacional. The season runs...
BrazilCampeonato Brasileiro Série AThe Campeonato Brasileiro de Clubes da Série A , popularly known as the Brasileirão , is a professional football league at the top of the Brazilian football league system held annually since 1959. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates a system of promotion and relegation with the Série B...
Chile Colombia PeruPrimera División PeruanaThe Peruvian Primera División is the top professional division of Peruvian football. It is known today as Torneo Descentralizado de Fútbol Profesional Peruano...
UruguayPrimera División UruguayaThe Liga Profesional de Primera División , also known as the Primera División Uruguaya or Primera División de Uruguay , is a professional football league in Uruguay at the top of the country's football league system. It is organized by the Uruguayan Football Association and is contested by 16 teams...
1 - Germany's national team is not allowed to be included in the game due to licensing rights being owned by EA Sports
EA Sports
EA Sports is a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to mimic real-life sports networks by calling themselves "EA Sports Network" with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John...
' "FIFA" series
FIFA (series)
FIFA, also known as FIFA Football or FIFA Soccer, is a series of association football video games, released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label...
, whilst the Japanese J-League and the Japanese national team are not allowed in the game at all due to Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
's purchase of the exclusive rights for their Pro Evolution Soccer
Pro Evolution Soccer
Pro Evolution Soccer is a series of football video game developed and published by Konami...
series.
Playable national teams
All national teams are playable with the exceptions of Germany and Japan for licensing reasons.Steam powered
Sports Interactive have announced that the game will be downloadable using the Steam content delivery system. This will allow gamers to have their games automatically patched to the latest version of the game. Miles Jacobson, the studio director at Sports Interactive, said "It gives us the opportunity for all of our games players to get any patches or updates that we make available quickly and easily, as well as a place for us to host any other downloads, such as demos and promotional videos, with super fast broadband speeds for download, and no issues with bandwidth, which we are hit with each time we release a demo". The Steam version of the game retains the UnilocUniloc
Uniloc Corporation is a computer security and copy protection software company founded in Australia in 1992 recognized as a pioneer in "try and buy" software distributed via magazines and preinstalled on new computers.- History :...
copy protection with its 5 activation limit.
Demo
There were two "flavours" of the demo. Vanilla was a stripped down version with limited number of players. The Strawberry demo was a full-fledged game with most of the features that would be on the original game with a gameplay limit of half a season.Activation problems
Upon release, many buyers had problems with the game's copy protection. A printing error on the manuals caused the keys to be difficult to read and there were distributed denial of service attacks on the UnilocUniloc
Uniloc Corporation is a computer security and copy protection software company founded in Australia in 1992 recognized as a pioneer in "try and buy" software distributed via magazines and preinstalled on new computers.- History :...
activation servers that prevented purchasers from activating their games. Since the provided telephone activation lines were also ran using the activation servers, they were also out of action. In response, SEGA issued a press release apologising for the problems faced by purchasers.
As of May 2011 the Game can No Longer be activated as the Site that Deals with Product Activation of Football Manager 2009 has Shut Down.