July 22 – After breaking a number of records at their recent World Cup in Canada, the women’s game has scored yet another first by being featured on the front of EA Sports’ FIFA 16, the hugely popular video game.
American World Cup winner Alex Morgan will be pictured on the US version the game alongside Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. A Canadian version of the game will feature Messi and Canada’s captain, Christine Sinclair.
“We actually made the decision to put Alex on the cover several months ago before the Women’s World Cup,” said David Pekush, Senior Global Product Marketing Manager for EA Sports. “We knew and we wanted to celebrate women’s soccer. And the fact that the women won the World Cup, it’s really icing on the cake for us.
“We know that in North America, in both the United States and Canada, women’s soccer is a very integral part of soccer culture and it’s also helping to grow the sport in North America. So we wanted to celebrate that by putting Alex on the cover.”
Only men’s football had featured in the game since it was first released in 1993 and Morgan said it was an honour to be one of the faces of 12 international women’s teams: USA, Canada, England, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain and Sweden.
FIFA 15 sold more than 16 million copies and the women’s World Cup put the spotlight firmly on the women’s game even if it still lags far behind men’s football in most countries.
“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,” Morgan said in a statement.