Alex Morgan of the World Cup-winning US Women's National Team and Christine Sinclair of the Canadian Women's National Team will appear alongside Lionel Messi on the cover of FIFA 16 in their respective countries, Electronic Arts announced today. This marks the first time female athletes have appeared on the cover of a FIFA game in North America.

Loading

Morgan calls the cover appearance an "incredible honor," adding, "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."Sinclair echoed Morgan's excitement, saying, "I’m thrilled that EA Sports is celebrating female athletes in FIFA 16. To be featured in the game and to promote women’s soccer with Alex is really special and another exciting step for women in sports."Earlier this year, EA announced FIFA 16 would feature female athletes for this first time in franchise history. "It's come about in a bunch of different ways," FIFA VP and GM David Rutter told IGN. "We've been chatting about it in the game team for a couple of years now. As you may or may not know, there's been petitions to have women put into the game, and I'm lucky enough to be the father of two amazing little girls, and both of them play FIFA a lot. They consistently pester me [about] why they can't play as women."We've always felt that there were things that needed to be done in the game that were more pressing – making passing work, or shooting etc. – but the fact of the matter is that the tools and the technology that we have on the game team now is at a level where you can really do the authenticity of the women's game justice."The Australian version of FIFA 16 will also feature a female player on the cover. Steph Catley won a fan vote earlier this year to appear alongisde Messi on the cover down under.FIFA 16 will be released September 22 in North America, September 24 in Australia, and September 25 in the UK on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.

Jordan Sirani is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @jdsirani