Fansided

Alex Morgan joins Lionel Messi on the cover of FIFA

By Mike Dyce

facebooktwitterreddit

United States women’s national team star Alex Morgan will join Lionel Messi on the cover of the FIFA video game.

The accolades and honors keep rolling in for the United States women’s national team after their third Women’s World Cup title, and deservedly so. It was announced on Monday that USWNT star Alex Morgan will join superstar Lionel Messi on the cover of the 2016 edition of the popular FIFA video game.

“It is an incredible honor to be one of the first women featured on the cover of EA SPORTS FIFA,” said Morgan. “I know people all over the world play this game and I’m really excited that FIFA 16 is putting such an important spotlight on women’s soccer. And now to share the cover with today’s greatest player is surreal.”

It might come as a surprise to those who don’t play the game, but Morgan will be the first woman to ever appear on the cover of the game. Women’s soccer teams hadn’t been featured in the game before, but this 2016 edition will also be the first year that women’s teams appear in the game.

It is strictly limited to women’s national teams and it will only be a dozen teams: USA, Canada, Brazil, England, Mexico, China, Germany, Australia, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden. The field for the 2015 Women’s World Cup was considerably larger.

FIFA does regional editions of the covers and in Canada, the captain of their national team Christine Sinclair will be pictured alongside Messi on the cover.

This is a huge win for women’s sports as they fight for equal money, endorsements or respect. The 2015 Women’s World Cup was plagued with issues highlighting this, from the games being played on artificial turf to the ridiculous and astonishing difference in pay between the two World Cups.

More from Soccer

Home/Soccer