Whilst it’s generally been a pretty shitty week for all things FIFA-related, we’re at least ending the week on a wildly positive note.
The world football governing body, together with sporting game megalith EA, have revealed that for the very first time in its long and storied franchise, female players will feature in the upcoming FIFA 16 game.
The game – scheduled for release on September 22nd – will feature 12 national women’s teams, which will include Australia’s own Matildas, along with the national teams from Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, and the USA.
Far from being a simple swap in of different character models, the EA development team brought four members of the US team – Sydney Leroux, Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, and Megan Rapinoe – to do motion capturing in their own right, in order to develop and produce an accurate representation of female athletes and their on-field movements.
The national teams will be available in general gameplay in just about all FIFA modes, with the obvious exception of career or franchise mode.
The announcement by FIFA and EA comes as the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup prepares to kick off across Canada on June 6th. The Matildas have drawn a particularly tough group, drawing the number 2 and 5 FIFA ranked teams in the United States and Sweden, along with Nigeria.
Their first match is on June 8th in Winnipeg against the US.
GO MATILDAS!
Photo: Mark Nolan via Getty Images.
via FIFA.com.
