Alex Morgan first female athlete featured on regional FIFA cover

U.S. women’s national team star Alex Morgan will be featured on the cover of EA Sports’ FIFA 16, alongside Lionel Messi.

U.S. women’s national team star Alex Morgan will be featured on the U.S. regional cover of FIFA 16, alongside Lionel Messi, EA Sports announced Monday. 

In Canada, the regional cover will feature Christine Sinclair, the all-time leading scorer for the Canadian women’s national team. Messi, the game’s most popular player, is featured on the worldwide cover. 

Morgan and Sinclair are the first women to be featured on a FIFA cover.

The game will be released in September and will include women’s players for the first time in the game’s history. Twelve of the top women’s national teams in the world will be available to players in certain game modes. 

Courtesy of EA Sports

Other women that will grace the cover of FIFA are Christine Sinclair and Stephanie Catley, who will be featured in their home countries of Canada and Australia, respectively. All three women featured on this year's edition of FIFA play for the NWSL's Portland Thorns. 

“It is an incredible honor to be one of the first women featured on the cover of EA SPORTS FIFA,” Morgan said in a press release. “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.”

Morgan scored one goal in seven games during the United States’ World Cup run this summer. 

- Dan Gartland