FIFA 16 cover has U.S. women’s national team star Alex Morgan side-by-side with Messi

The World Cup winning team just got one of its stars on the cover of one of the most popular video games in the world.

Alex Morgan, forward for the U.S. women’s national soccer team, will grace the cover of FIFA 16 shoulder-to-shoulder with Argentine megastar Lionel Messi (who has appeared in commercials for FIFA games in the past). This is the first time that a woman has appeared on the cover of one of the major EA Sports releases.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1770448,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"D"}']

This comes off of a recent World Cup for the women’s teams that took place in Canada. The U.S. won that tournament in a match earlier this month that drew 20.3 million viewers in the States. That is more than the NBA finals or the Stanley Cup finals for the NHL. With that kind of momentum and excitement, EA seems like it is making the exact right choice at the perfect time.

But Morgan isn’t the only woman who will appear on the cover. While she will grace the art of the game in the United States, EA has also included Christine Sinclair from team Canada and Stephanie Catley of team Australia for those respective territories. Messi will share the cover with each woman, as he is on the cover globally.

In a statement, EA Sports North American marketing boss David Pekush said that his team “immediately recognized that Christine and Alex would be the perfect cover athletes based on their accomplishments.” This is the first FIFA game to feature the women players, and this move seeks to highlight that.