For the fourth straight year Lionel Messi will grace the cover of the "FIFA" video game series, and on Friday EA Sports unveiled what the new cover will look like. Take a look at Messi wearing Barcelona's unorthodox horizontal-striped kit:
Worth noting: Messi is wearing a long sleeve undershirt that covers his tattoos. It seems as if his leg tattoos aren't visable either. Conspiracy? Perhaps.
EA Sports is holding a global vote to decide who will join the Barcelona star on the cover. Voting will be split between five different regions (Australia, UK, France, Latin America, Mexico). We'll focus on the three regions that may matter to us in the Western Hemisphere.
UNITED KINGDOM
- Sergio Aguero - Manchester City
- Thibaut Courtois - Chelsea FC
- Jordan Henderson - Liverpool FC
- Harry Kane - Tottenham Hotspur
LATIN AMERICA
- Sergio Aguero - 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
- Oribe Peralta - Club América
- Christian Gimenez - Cruz Azul
- Javier Orozco - Santos Laguna
As you'll notice, no Real Madrid players were selected to clash with Messi in these three regions. Conspiracy? Probably not, considering Raphael Varane is a contestant for the cover vote in France.
First on the pitch! More FIFA 16 cover stars joining Messi in select countries next week: http://t.co/ps9aArn0QP pic.twitter.com/S4jIH27hF9
— EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) July 3, 2015
Voting for the cover ends on July 5, and EA Sports will announce the cover stars for each region on July 8. The new edition of "FIFA" will launch in September. Check out the official E3 trailer for the game:
As far as Messi goes, he is 90 minutes away from conquering his first major trophy for Argentina, which would be the first title for the Albicelestes since 1993. Is there such thing as a "FIFA" cover jinx? We'll find out Saturday.
