EA To Release UEFA Champions League In March News

Electronic Arts' love of football continues to know no bounds, with the giant developer/publisher today announcing their fifth football title (not including FIFA Manager 2007) in eighteen months.

Confirmed for Xbox 360, PlayStation2, PSP, and PC, UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 follows this year's European Cup competition, which culminates in May's Final in Athens. Currently in development at EA Canada, the Xbox 360 version of the game is set to feature a new mode called 'Ultimate Team Mode', which sees players build up their team, staff, stadium, and strategies through the collection and trading of cards...for now we'll be a tad cynical, and question whether the mode will be anything less than a gimmick. Classic moments from the tournament (which will hopefully include that memorable night in May 1999!) will also be recreated in the game, together with eight-player Lobbies for online gameplay.

"We celebrate the passion football fans have for their club teams by capturing all of the classic rivalries in-game and enabling players to win glory for their club teams in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007," said Ken Sayler, Lead Producer on the Xbox 360 system. "This is the ultimate stage for club football in Europe and we're giving you the power to build and manage your dream team by creating a unique virtual card system to collect, trade and use players on your way to glory."

The game's end of March release date falls pretty closely to the launch period of PlayStation3 in Europe, but so far EA has yet to confirm whether UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 will be heading to Sony's next-gen system...but we wouldn't be surprised if it did make an appearance.