PES 2009 Has Exclusive Rights to UEFA Champions League

Konami is really pushing for Pro Evolution Soccer to become a major player in the world of football simulation games. And a football game cannot be great without getting the rights to important competitions and to major teams. Konami seems to be well on its way with the announcement that it has acquired the exclusive rights to the UEFA Champions League for Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 and that it has also entered into an agreement with English clubs Liverpool and Manchester United to get the license needed for real world players from the two teams to be featured in the game. 

The Champions League license allows Konami to use "all elements and attributes of the competition" in its game, which probably refers to the anthem, the colors and the logos.

Because of the deal with Liverpool, which chose the game to be the official football simulator of the club, Konami is preparing to create a special game package that will be sold only to fans.

Jon Murphy from Konami said that "Liverpool FC fans can look forward to the most realistic video game recreation of their team, with the likes of Torres, Gerrard and Carragher recreated with an incredible level of detail." Maybe next we will see Chelsea or even Arsenal choosing FIFA 2009 as the official videogame for their clubs.

The developers promise that players will be more detailed in PES 2009 and that each of them will have a special animation that will be created based on the way the real life players behave on the pitch. Special attention will be paid to players from Manchester United and Liverpool.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is scheduled for release for the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360 and the PC and will probably arrive on October 17. Konami is also planning to release a Nintendo Wii version of the game sometime in spring 2009.