Football fans, make sure you put September 11 in your diary.

That date will be the kick-off for this season's big-name PC games when Eidos Interactive and Beautiful Game Studios release Championship Manager 2010.

Having been in development for more than two years, CM10 will include a raft of features not seen before in football management games.

For a start, there will be over 500 individual player animations in a new 3D match engine.

A set-piece creator will allow players to devise their own unique free-kicks and corners. Will those training ground moves pay off in the big match?

Meanwhile, scouting networks will let users set up local networks in countries around the world to find new talent.

Managers will be able to trial new players they find as well as mould their pefect team by playing practice matches.

Another new feature is CM Season Live, which will take the game into the real world. Players will be able to download actual 09/10 season data and then take on real-world managerial decisions and challenges in the leading leagues across Europe.

Championship Manager general manager Roy Meredith said: "This edition contains features which will really set us apart from the competition."

Ahead of the September release, players will be able to get their first taste of CM10 from August 14 when a full demo is made available from the Championship Manager website.

The demo will allow managers to play through six months of game time.

CM10 will not have very long to show off its skills before other footy titles - chief among them Football Manager 2010 - are released. The battle for supremacy could be fierce this season, which can only be good for football fans.