Steph Catley, female FIFA soccer player—or football, if you’re anywhere but the United States—will be on the Australian FIFA 16 game cover. The choice for cover athlete was put to a vote, and Australia decided that Catley was the best player for the position. The Australian women’s national soccer team recently became the first Australian team (ever) to win a knockout stage match at a FIFA World Cup event. (They defeated Brazil 1-0.)
There are three athlete spots on each cover, with Lionel Messi taking up one spot worldwide. Several regions—Australia, France, Latin America, Mexico, and the UK—were given the option to vote on the next athlete from a pool of their own region’s players. Australia’s three eligible players were all from the women’s national soccer team, the Matildas.
EA announced this year that for the first time, female players and teams would be included in the FIFA franchise, the next game of which will be FIFA 16. Better late than never, right?
