The BBC is reportedly ready to pay around £400 million to secure the broadcast rights for Champions League games from 2009-10.

As the bidding process gets underway, the Daily Mailclaimed that the BBC is preparing to splash out millions of license fee money on the competition that currently airs on free-TV rival ITV.

BBC sports chiefs are 'desperate to wrest top European football from ITV', which pays £120million for its three- year deal for the Champions League, the newspaper said.

UEFA is believed to be looking to at least double the current £120million deal. On top of that, UEFA would expect the BBC to make up the revenue lost by not showing adverts for sponsors such as Ford and MasterCard, which get repeated exposure as official sponsors on the ITV coverage.