New FIFA video game to feature women’s teams for first time in franchise history

FIFA 16

TORONTO — Canadian captain Christine Sinclair is finally in the game.

EA Sports says “FIFA 16,” the new version of its soccer video game, will feature 12 women’s national teams for the first time in the 22-year history of the franchise.

Teams from Canada, Australia, Brazil, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, and the U.S. will be available to play in several game modes including including Kick Off, an offline tournament, as well as online friendly matches.

“Bringing some of the best women’s players and teams in the world to our franchise is a massive event for EA Sports, and we are equally excited about bringing millions of fans a new way to play,” David Rutter, vice-president of EA Sports FIFA, said in a statement. “We’re making sure fans get an authentic experience when playing with women’s national teams thanks to our innovative player capture and reference tools, as well as the sophisticated game-play platform which we will continue to innovate on in ‘FIFA 16.'”

The women’s teams will “compete exclusively” against each other in the game, according to EA Sports.

The video game developer says it captured the likeness, body movements and playing styles of star players like Canada’s Sinclair, American Alex Morgan, and England’s Stephanie Houghton.

Morgan and three other U.S. internationals — Sydney Leroux, Abby Wambach and Megan Rapinoe — took part in a motion capture session which the developer says helped to “build new locomotion for women” in the game.

Canadian players also visited the EA studio for 360-degree body scanning, used to develop player models.

“I’m in the game!” tweeted Canadian fullback Allysha Chapman.

“This. Is. The. Coolest. #CanWNT is in the game,” added defender Emily Zurrer.

“This is super sick. Never would have thought in my life this would happen. Love it,” said defender Kadeisha Buchanan.

It’s been a good couple of days for the Canadian women, who treated themselves to selfies with Manchester City stars David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Joe Hart at Wednesday night’s friendly against Toronto FC.

EA says its mobile headscanning unit travelled around the world to capture facial features, including hairstyles, to ensure players look as realistic as possible.

The made-in-Vancouver game launches in September for PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

The top women in the world are in Canada for the World Cup, which kicks off June 6.