Sports Interactive and SEGA support fans with a free data update for Football Manager 2005

Fans of Football Manager 2005 are about to receive an unexpected gift in the form of a free data update, which will be made available by Sports Interactive and SEGA Europe on Wednesday, March 2nd.

The data update, which will be available free-of-charge through a variety of outlets, brings the game right up to date by including all changes in personnel that have occurred in the world of football since the game's initial release on November 4th 2004 and the closure of the recent transfer window on January 31st (a total of more than 160,000 changes of player, coaching and managerial staff).

"We are very happy to offer our fans this 'thank you' in recognition of the support that they have shown to us and it's great that SEGA has given us the green light to do it," says Miles Jacobson, Managing Director of Sports Interactive. "Football Manager has become the game of choice for all football fans because of the level of realism that it offers its players and this update can only enhance the experience."

The update will be available from March 2nd as a free download from the SI and SEGA websites (http://www.sigames.com or http://www.sega-europe.com) and from a variety of the most popular gaming websites. The update will also be made available to the publishers of all relevant computer and video games magazines for free distribution on cover-mounted media. The update will be available in a number of forms, combined with the latest (and final) FM 2005 patch in standard, RAR and Torrent format (the patch will also be available as standalone file for those who do not want the update).

Football Manager 2005 is also to be remastered, so that all stock manufactured from this point forward will include the new database and fully-updated code.

About SEGA

SEGA Europe Ltd. is the European Publishing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. SEGA Europe's web site is located at http://www.sega-europe.com.

SEGA is a registered trademark of SEGA Corporation. Football Manager and Sports Interactive are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sports Interactive in the UK or other countries.