There's A Petition to Make Megan Rapinoe the Next FIFA Cover

Click here to read the full article.

Even if you don’t usually follow soccer, chances are you’ve heard Megan Rapinoe‘s name over the past few weeks. She recently led the USWNT to a World Cup victory, she’s #1 on pretty much every queer woman’s list of celebrity crushes (ahem, guilty as charged), and she’s been dropping endlessly re-Tweetable sound bites about equal pay on and off the field. So, wouldn’t it make sense to have this soccer champion as the cover of EA’s FIFA20 soccer video game? According to one petition, that’s exactly what one group of fans is aiming for.

Started by a fan, the “To have Megan Rapinoe on the cover of FIFA 2020” petition has already been signed by 1,605 people. The description on Change.org lays out the reasoning.

“Fifa needs to change it’s [SIC] policy on prize money but that’s just the start. More exposure of this team and women’s football will help change their minds. EA has already done more than FIFA in terms of support so this is a no-brainer which I know they must be contemplating. Much respect to IGN for the original post and image on social media.”

EA has never had a female player on the cover of their popular FIFA games, and they didn’t even add the women’s national teams until 2016. What better time to change all that then now, when Rapinoe is at the height of her career? The striker for the USWNT earned the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball at the World Cup this summer for scoring a whopping six goals, and she has wide crossover appeal. I personally know a lot of people who’ve never followed soccer before who are hanging on to her every word (and making her Sports Illustrated photoshoots their phone lock screens. AHEM NOT GUILTY jk I’m in love with her). It seems like not just a step in the right direction in terms of equality, but also like a damn good business decision for EA if they want to get some new video game players interested in their FIFA games.

You can sign the petition here. In the meantime, I guess watching Rapinoe’s old games and thirstily scrolling through her Instagram account will have to do.

Sign up for SheKnows' Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.