Yesterday evening we were invited to London by Sports Interactive for a very special announcement on Football Manager 2009. The headline news is that gaming%26rsquo;s premier footie management sim has finally signed a pꩲroper 3D match engine. And what%26rsquo;s more, we got a peak at an up-and-running early build of the new matches.

The new graphics engine is being developed by the guys behind Sega%26rsquo;s noඣw defunct Virtua Striker series. What we saw wasn%26rsquo;t exactly on a par with FIFA %26ndash; it looked nice and chunky, although, with only around 40 animations, it also looked a little clunky. But the results were still a stratosphere away from the 2D dots of the past. And, with over a 100 unique animations promised for the final version, the days of imagining that promising young wingback netting his first screamer will become a reality you can actually watch. Insane purists will be glad to know, though, they can still choose the old 2D system.

Other new features include a transfer rumour system (similar to the one that sites like the BBC have), pre and post match press conferences, the 💖ability to build up relationships with football hacks to generate positive media coverage, and a few new stat parameters thrown in for good measu🌳re: like squad harmony and club stature. Phew.

The last new, and par🐷ticularly progressive feature, is you 𒀰can finally play as a female football manager. So now you can follow in the footsteps of all those esteemed women managers in world football. Oh.

A PSP version is also in the pipeline, which will include a new revamped 2D match engine. Both ve𓃲rsi🌼ons are currently scheduled for a November 14th release.