Eidos has decided to offer an amazing surprise to us all by giving everybody a chance to download and play for free Championship Manager 01/02, one of the best games in the series. Indeed, it doesn’t have too many visuals and some might consider its features a bit outdated, but it is still a really solid football simulation that will certainly put you under its spell.

Even more, Championship Manager Season 01/02 has been updated and features the player ratings and teams of 2008, so it will be like a huge step into the future and the overall gameplay will not seem – at least for the younger gamers – like a trip to the past.

But what a nice free trip it will be! With over 100,000 players, managers and leagues featured in the game, Championship Manager 01/02 also features new updates like the aforementioned updated transfers and player lists, the current transfer system, as well as new things never present in the original CM0102 like interactions with the media and the board.

So if you feel that you simply can’t wait until Championship Manager 2010 is released or you simply want to taste a bit of the great past of the series, head over to the official CM website and download for free Championship Manager 01/02 – you will first need to register there, but it only takes a minute and it’s also completely free of charge.