I just wanted a place to say i want to buy a copy of fifa 16 that has Alex Morgan on the cover and not fucking Henderson!

This seems like a easy way for ea to get a bit of good press but in Europe we still have all men all the time! and it's shitty livepool men!

I wish ea had the balls to put women on the cover in a territory that gives a shit about football this seems like having your cake and eating it.

Wait is it REALLY Jordan Henderson on the cover for the UK? Jesus...

Ea gives a shit about selling their game and it makes sense in America where they care more about women in games than they care about football.

@jothel: yes :(

it's one of the reasons i'm thinking of getting pes this year

Ride the coattails of the US World Cup win. Plus its a feature they've hyped so to omit a female cover star would be an own goal.

Why are you complaining about Jordan Henderson on the cover? Sure he is an only above average player but if they want a player from the UK on the cover they don't have many options. There just arent many star players who were born in the UK. Gareth Bale maybe. But there isnt anybody who significantly stands out in the epl.

It seems kinda bad if they are only doing women on the cover in one region though. Well they are doing it in Australia.

Women's Soccer is the only good Soccer, anyway.

@mercurialau:

My vote was for Harry kane he may have had one one good season but it was a very good season,

Raheem Sterling would be a big deal too especially in his new man city kit.

and i would be totally fine with one of the england women team being on it too.

@mercurialau: I think it should have been Richard Brittain, in acknowledgement for many years of great service to Ross County.

I don't know if you're new to what they're doing this year or not, but every location has voted for both a women and a man to be on the cover. Yes it's cool that the women that is on the U.S. cover got voted there.

I think it's cool that Woman made it onto the cover. I'm glad that Woman and Man can together represent Ballkicking Game.

Seriously though, the composition kinda makes it seem like they're playing together. Is that a thing in soccer? I mean professionally. You can play soccer with guys and gals together if you want. I've tried it. You're still just playing soccer.

@monkeyman04: i know it was vote but as British person i'm used to the public voting for the wrong candidate

I'd have voted Christen Press but that's just me.

The guy is in front of the woman. There is still good work to be done.

@implyingimplications: It's easy to say "who cares" when it always swings in the favor of the group you belong to. As exemplified by you.

@implyingimplications: You are unable to comprehend the issue and so I won't take this further. Just as a final thought: If you truly don't care - don't post about it.

You seem angry.

@thom_hill: well if people dont vote on the player you like is a very different conversation from "should they have a woman on the cover or not".

@rethla: i think your missing the point

People still care about box art?

Seriously though I think no women being on the front of the U.K. Box is more to do the the women's game not being as popular here as it is in north America. Rather than a women in games thing.

@mercurialau: Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, John Terry, Joe Hart, Wayne Rooney, James Milner, hell I'd even put Charlie Austin and Danny Ings on the cover before that limp noodle Jordan Henderson. If it had to be a Liverpool player (which seems like a terrible decision) than I'd rather they put David Sturridge in crutches over Hendo.

@honkalot: He has an opinion and he posted it. He didn't post to say he didn't have an opinion. Those are two different things. Telling someone "they are unable to comprehend the issue," while not doing anything to explain is not exactly how discussions work. Also, he has done more to back his opinion than you have yours.

Damn, I wanted Jack Warner....

Now just drop FIFA, the only FIFA property you actually use is the world cup, which isn't in any of the core games because of SHAMELESS GOUGING...

Erm on topic... How about a reversable Black & White style cover?

@hypnotoadbrwowrowrow: Belonging to the privileged group and saying "who gives a shit" is worse than not having an opinion at all.

In my opinion that shows a lack of understanding and or empathic ability that to engage them is a waste of energy and brain cells.

You're right that it shouldn't be a big deal. People shouldn't have to care about this sort of thing. But both the games industry and the sports industry are massively unequal, so when things like this happen it's a good sign of positive change happening to better represent different groups of people in the game.

In a perfect world, it shouldn't be a big deal. But this isn't a perfect world and stuff like this is a small step towards making things more equal.

USA women's won the cup and women's teams are a big new feature this year (espically for yearly France's like this one)

Makes sense to me

If people didn't care, Mario Gotze would still be on the cover of Pro Evo. Now that series is on the up again, Neymar's been signed up. Its a simple marketing move that can benefit both parties.

This is a good move on their part. They will sell more copies than normal to young girls now. With them on the cover, and adding the national teams. Its smart business.

Here's a tip, print out a picture of your favourite women's footballer and stick it over Henderson. Bonus points if you can actually name a women's footballer in England, rather than this being some crybaby who is unhappy that someone playing for a different club than they support is on the front.

Surprised they didn't offer multiple covers or at the very least a reversible cover option in the UK. They already produce different covers for different regions (Australia is also getting a female on the cover) so why not produce 1 more to give people the option for those who it does make a difference to?

They'd run out of boxes before you see a women on the UK cover.

@twigger89: Yes there are other players. My point is putting any of them on the cover isn't significantly better because there aint no English Messi or Irish Ronaldo. I personally would want kane or sterling on there tbh but hey limited options. Whats with your weird disdain for Henderson though, just because he is on the cover doesn't mean he is the face of English football.

They should be putting a female UK player on the UK cover though. I dont see how womens football is more popular in Australia than it is in the UK. Seems strange to me. Maybe I have no clue though.

You do know that the UK cover was a vote, right? People in the UK voted for him to be on the cover. So take it up with your fellow country men and women.

This was also a vote done on the EA website. They did voting by region. AU voted her on the cover. And oddly, the only three choices were women. So that would tell me either women's soccer is more popular in AU than men's soccer. Or EA just didn't think any of the men on the national team were good enough.

Here were the regions with voting, who you could vote for, and who won.

AUSTRALIA

• Kyah Simon – Australian Women’s National Team
• Steph Catley – Australian Women’s National Team
• Katrina Gorry – Australian Women’s National Team

FRANCE

• Raphaël Varane – Real Madrid (Spain)
• Antoine Griezmann – Atlético Madrid (Spain)
• Alexandre Lacazette – Olympique Lyonnais (France)
• Blaise Matuidi – Paris Saint-Germain (France)

LATIN AMERICA

• Sergio Agüero – Manchester City (England)
• Claudio Bravo – FC Barcelona (Spain)
• Edinson Cavani – Paris Saint-Germain (France)
• Juan Cuadrado – Chelsea (England)
• Jose Rondon – Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia)
• Carlos Zambrano – Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany)

MEXICO

• Hugo Ayala – Tigres
• Marco Fabian – Chivas
• Hiram Mier – Rayados de Monterrey
• Eduardo Herrera – Pumas
• Diego De Buen – Pachuca
• Moisés Muñoz – Club América
• Christian Gimenez – Cruz Azul
• Javier Orozco – Santos Laguna

UNITED KINGDOM

• Sergio Agüero – Manchester City
• Thibaut Courtois – Chelsea FC
• Jordan Henderson – Liverpool FC
• Harry Kane – Tottenham Hotspur

Can we please talk about the elephant in the room of that of messi's terrible photo?

I mean at least EA put morgan's head on a body that makes sense.

also why is messi still on the cover? there are other footballers that americans care about that are not messi. He has been on for like 5 years straight. I really like him but lets bring back the 3 player covers.

@thom_hill: Why don't you just import the American version of the game? XBOX One and PS4 are region free. As an American I'm so happy Alex Morgan is on the cover, I figured they would do this after how good the US National team was. I may actually pick up the game this year because of the added female teams.

You and me both.

@sterling: I think the reason they have women on the cover with Messi in AU and the US is because Mens Football is significantly less popular in US and AU compared with the other regions so: "What the hell. Lets just put a woman on there. That will be good press". It will showcase the new female playable teams as well.

While in all these other regions Mens Football is significantly more popular compared to other sports. So they can't not put a dude on there I guess.

He has a contract with EA. It was an six year deal. Three more years if they don't renew. He has only been on the last three. Thirteen was the first year. And he was on Street also, so four covers, but only three FIFA covers.

Last year in the US we had Clint Dempsy on the cover. And back on the 2012 cover we had Landon Donavon. Its not that its not popular here. The sport has grown tremendously over the last 5-6 years. But it is them cashing in, and that is smart of them. The women's world cup just finished up. So using that in any region they could is good for them. Like I said earlier, could bring in new sales of young girls who are still high on the women's world cup. My daughter has never had an interest in FIFA, she has watched me play for years. Never wanted to play. But she plays in real life. And now she wants me to buy her her own copy of the game. Also there was a third region with a female cover athlete. Canada is also getting Christine Sinclair on their cover.

And according to this, Australia might also get a third.

Reported.

@sterling: I didnt mean it wasnt popular at all in the US. I just mean like in Australia even though it is growing in popularity it is still the 4th or 5th (In Australia its probably 1/2: NRL /AFL - depending on the state, 3: cricket, 4/5: Soccer or Rugby Union) most popular/watched/played sport.

It's good to see women getting interested in the game though. Just shows how important it is to be able to play people of your own gender.

The other australian player wont be anyone other than Tim Cahill though.

It's really simple actually, people value representation that reflects themselves. And this is a historic perceived barrier that's being broken.

It's the same reason when you see ads on TV for all sorts of consumer products (Beer ads, Old Navy, Pringles etc you name it) that have a carefully calculated array of people of varied genders, ages and races enjoying their products. The implied message is that all are welcome to use and enjoy these products.

So maybe it doesn't matter to you that for the first time in history a Female athlete graces the cover of an EA Sports game, but it sure as heck might and probably does matter to many Female gamers and athletes. And it matters to the fans of Women's teams.

fwiw it matters to me because I enjoy Women's Soccer more than Men's, especially at World Cup time. Never really got into MLS, probably because it always felt like a junior league compared to the European teams. Chances are this will be the first FIFA game I'll ever buy since I'll actually know the players.

@counterclockwork87: I may actually do that (i probably wont).

I know Laura Bassett mainly because her amazing goal against japan unfortunately it was at the wrong end.

i would put it to you that you are the crybaby who fails to understand simple BANTS!

but seriously Henderson sucks