Alex Morgan On FIFA 16 Cover in US Region

FIFA 16 will not only include women's teams for the first time, but will also feature female players on the cover in some regions.

So far, covers in the United States, Canada, and Australia will show female players alongside Messi.

The United States cover shows Alex Morgan, while Canada shows Christine Sinclair and Australia shows Steph Catley.

This is pretty big for women's soccer on the international level. Gamers and soccer fans will see women on the cover of a AAA game, visually equated with Messi. Whether or not they actually play games with women's teams, just being exposed to the concept on a regular basis is a giant leap forward in pop culture consciousness for the women's game.

If you're brave enough to wade through the comments on the announcement from EA, there's even people debating which player should be on the cover instead of outright dismissing a woman in their sacred space. Talking about a player's merit based on performance? It's sad, but that's also progress for the women's game.

Hopefully FIFA 16 will continue to show the outsize sales associated with the title. There's no reason to think it won't. Once big companies see that including women's soccer doesn't taint their product, and may even enhance it, perhaps we'll see even more broadscale buy-in.