Australian soccer star Sam Kerr will be a cover athlete for FIFA 23, and her presence on the game's box makes franchise history. The EA Sports series lets players become soccer's biggest stars and go head-to-head in a virtual World Cup tournament. New FIFA installments are released annually, with each new game honoring a renowned athlete with a spot on the game's cover. The franchise's new game FIFA 23 will feature Sam Kerr on the cover, and her inclusion is a particularly meaningful moment for the series.
The original FIFA International Soccer was released back in 1994, and since then yearly releases have been built upon its foundations. The series prides itself on authentically simulating the beloved game of soccer by featuring real athletes, clever enemy AI, and authentic gameplay mechanics. Recent entries also focus on photorealistic graphics, with legendary soccer stars like Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi appearing in-game through the use of motion capture technology. Last year's FIFA 22 was considered a successful evolution of the series thanks to new features like special VOLTA abilities and returning modes like Career and FIFA Ultimate Team. Paris Saint-Germain's striker Kylian Mbappé was the FIFA 22 cover athlete, and the series' next installment will spotlight another iconic player.
FA Women's Super League champion Sam Kerr has found outstanding success since joining the professional soccer world in 2008. Kerr currently captains the Matildas, Australia's national women's soccer team, and has been ranked as Australia's all-time leading male or female international scorer. She is the all-time leading scorer in the entire National Women's Soccer League in the United States, too, and in general, she is considered to be one of the greatest soccer players in the world alongside being one of Australia's most celebrated athletes. Sam Kerr's athletic skills and dedication to soccer cannot be overstated, and serving as the cover athlete for FIFA 23 lets the star hit yet another milestone.
Sam Kerr Is The First Female Cover Athlete In FIFA History
Sam Kerr will appear as the newest FIFA title's cover athlete to coincide with FIFA 23 including Men's and Women's World Cup tournaments. This will make FIFA 23 the first entry in the series to include a female athlete on a standard cover, marking a momentous occasion for representation within the extremely popular franchise. Kerr will appear on standard versions of the game in Australia and New Zealand alongside Amazon exclusives across the rest of the world. The standard edition of the game in the rest of the world will once again feature Kylian Mbappé, and the FIFA 23 Ultimate Edition cover features both Mbappé and Kerr. While Sam Kerr will not appear on every edition of FIFA 23, her presence is a massive score for women's soccer.
Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, statistically speaking, and the FIFA series is wise to reflect the game's entire playerbase. More new FIFA games will surely release in the coming years, and the inclusion of Sam Kerr as a FIFA 23 cover athlete bodes well for more representation in the future. Female soccer legends like Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach are easily popular enough to occupy the cover of a future FIFA installment, but this year Sam Kerr gets a well-deserved spotlight.