* New centralised system modelled on lucrative Champions League

By Keith Weir

MANCHESTER, England, March 28 (Reuters) - European broadcasters will be asked to bid for the rights to national team soccer games under a new system modelled on the Champions' League - the lucrative competition for top clubs.

UEFA, European soccer's ruling body, will sell rights to future qualifiers for European Championships and World Cups collectively on behalf of all its 53 members.

Individual football associations currently do their own media deals but have been promised more revenues from the new system which will take effect from 2014 when qualification matches for Euro 2016 begin.

"We plan a tender over the next couple of weeks to invite agencies and broadcasters to bid for rights," said UEFA Marketing Director Guy-Laurent Epstein, speaking at the Soccerex European Forum in Manchester on Wednesday.

UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino said England was the only national federation not to finalise agreement on the sale of rights, adding he expected details to be ironed out with the English over the next couple of weeks.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE EFFECT

Commercial revenue for Champions League matches is expected to total around 1.1 billion euros ($1.47 billion) in 2011-12 and securing a place in the competition is vital to ensure the financial stability of top clubs.

Champions League fixtures on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are a central part of the schedule for European broadcasters. UEFA wants to generate the same continental buzz around games featuring nations like Spain and Germany.

"National team football in general needs a boost and that is the reason why we are backing this project," Infantino said.

"The key is to find the right balance between national team football and club football," he added.

UEFA plan to play qualifying matches over a "week of football" stretching from Thursday to Tuesday, with each nation playing two games in that period. Kick-off times will also be fixed as for the Champions League to make life simpler for broadcasters.

UEFA envisages free-to-air and pay TV operators buying different packages of rights. It would prefer games to be on free channels in their domestic markets to ensure access for as many people as possible.

Niall Sloane, controller of sport for British commercial broadcaster ITV, said big internationals retained their appeal for viewers.

"England always draws an audience. We would take as much England inventory as we could," he told the conference, adding that ITV was also interested in showing matches from other nations from the British Isles and top foreign teams.

"Spain playing anyone is always of great interest," he said. Spain are current world and European champions. ($1 = 0.7506 euros) (Editing by Jane Merriman)

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