Alex Morgan to appear on cover of 'FIFA 16'

Brett Molina | USA TODAY

For the first time ever, a woman will appear on the cover of Electronic Arts’ popular soccer franchise.

The video game publisher announced Alex Morgan, forward on the World Cup champion U.S. Women’s National Team, will join FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi on the cover of FIFA 16. Morgan will appear on versions of the soccer simulation released in the U.S., while Canadian soccer star Christine Sinclair graces the cover of FIFA 16 in Canada.

The move coincides with FIFA’s addition of women to the video game for the first time in its history.

"It’s a really great honor to be on the cover of the game,” said Morgan during an interview with USA TODAY. "It’s something I played, and my husband played in college. It’s going to tremendously help the women’s game in creating more awareness."

FIFA 16, which launches September 22, will feature 12 national women’s teams: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, and the U.S.

Earlier this year, Morgan joined fellow USWNT stars Abby Wambach, Sydney Leroux and Megan Rapinoe in a series of motion-capture sessions at EA’s studios in British Columbia, Canada as part of plans to incorporate women’s teams into the game.

“It was really interesting and weird at the same time seeing ourselves in real time getting the motion capture, then seeing ourselves on the screen,” says Morgan. “The fact (that) they’re so detailed in creating a real person into a video game person — it’s pretty unreal everything that goes into it."

Morgan and her teammates are coming off a historic run at the Women’s World Cup, earning the U.S. its first women's title since 1999. Morgan hopes the recent successes of the men’s and women’s teams along with FIFA’s growing popularity will elevate the sport’s status in the U.S.

“Americans are 100% on board when the World Cup comes around,” says Morgan. "Some other years when there’s not a big tournament, there’s a little bit of a drop off. Having FIFA 16, having women integrated into this, having this video game be the biggest sports video game there is out there, that’ll help. But it’s trying not to create that drop off after a men’s or a women’s World Cup and making it popular and full and interesting."

Meanwhile, Morgan and teammates continue to celebrate their World Cup victory, most recently attending last week's ESPY Awards in Los Angeles. "It’s been a really fun 10 days,” she says. "It’s been crazy."

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.