The Cover Stars of FIFA: A History

For any professional football player, it has always been considered an honour to be featured on the cover of the world’s most popular sports game. This week it has been announced that, to coincide with the introduction of women athletes in the franchise’s next instalment, there will be a female football player on the cover for the very first time.

Newly-crowned Women’s World Cup winner Alex Morgan will accompany the established Lionel Messi on the cover of the American version of the game whilst Christine Sinclair and Steph Catley will also get to lineup alongside the four-time Ballon d’Or winner in Canada and Australia respectively.

The ability to play as the opposite sex in sports games like FIFA and in video games in general is something which many female gamers have been crying out for for years. Twelve international women’s teams hardly represents total equality, but what this does represent is a step in the right direction on EA Sports’ part and it is a momentous achievement for the women’s game too.

To celebrate this feat, I am going to be taking a trip down memory lane, having a closer look at some of the cover stars of the FIFA series from years gone by. So where do we begin on such an epic journey? Well, we’re going to have to go back over a staggering two decades!

 

 

FIFA International Soccer (1993)

UK cover stars: David Batty and Piotr Świerczewski

Other cover stars: Ruud Gullit and Packie Bonner

Okay, so its hardly Lionel Messi, but its a start! Admittedly, I hadn’t heard of this Polish midfield general either until now, but nevertheless, he must have been half decent to bag himself a spot on the first edition of this giant series of video games.

 

FIFA International Soccer was an instant hit with the gaming community even back in the early nineties. Incredibly, it managed to dislodge Street Fighter II: Special Edition from the top of the UK Megadrive charts and stayed there for a full six months.

Launched in celebration of the 1994 World Cup being held in the USA, owners of the earliest FIFA copy could only play as international teams and due to licensing reasons, real player names were not used.

Additionally, former AC Milan and Chelsea striker Ruud Gullit was brandished across the front cover in some versions of the game, as was Republic of Ireland shot-stopper, Packie Bonner, so all in all, it was easily the bees knees of banging goals in in the 16-bit era.

 

FIFA Soccer 95 (1994)

UK cover star: Erik Thorstvedt

Other cover stars: Alexi Lalas

So we come on to the first FIFA game with a number in the title. FIFA Soccer 95 treated us to a wonderful shot of an airborne diving Erik Thorstvedt, who made 218 appearances for Tottenham Hotspur between 1989 and 1996.

The game itself made a big step forward from the original FIFA International Soccer in that this time, you could play as club teams. FIFA Soccer 95 introduced eight new leagues including the Premier League, Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga, Netherlands’ Eredevisie, France’s 1re division, the Brazilian and the American. Players names remained fictitious with some squads even featuring players who had subsequently moved on from their clubs.

 

The game engine however only received very minor touch-ups except for the removal of the oh so annoying one-touch passing found in FIFA International Soccer a year previously.

FIFA Soccer 96 (1995)

UK cover stars: Frank de Boer and Jason McAteer

North American cover stars: Ioan Sabau and Andy Legg

Believe it or not, Andy Legg, who featured on the cover of the North American version of FIFA Soccer 96 actually played for Notts County at the time. Incredible. Anyway FIFA Soccer 96 was branded as “Next Generation Soccer” and it certainly delivered just that.

This third instalment in the FIFA franchise was the first to feature proper 3D graphics, using technology called Virtual Stadium on the new Sega Saturn, Playstation and PC versions.

 

It was also the first game to include a player/team customisation editor mode and there were a further three leagues added. The Scottish Premier League, the Swedish Allsvenskan and oddly, Super League Malaysia!

On the cover, there is still no sign of the intricate photoshopping we’ve come to expect today, but Frank de Boer and Jason McAteer still do an excellent job at making you want to pick up a copy of the game.

FIFA 97 (1996)

UK and European cover star: David Ginola

Rest of world cover star: Bebeto

Dropping the word Soccer from the title, in FIFA 97, we saw what was perhaps the earliest skeleton of the spin-off FIFA Street series. Included alongside the main game mode was a 6-a-side indoor soccer mode.

 

Cover star David Ginola was far more than just a pretty face on the front of the box. In fact, he provided motion capture which helped create the very first instance of polygonal players in the FIFA series.

And as if that wasn’t enough, FIFA 97 also featured commentary provided by the legendary John Motson, partnered by Andy Gray whilst the terrific voice of Des Lynam introduced the matches.

FIFA: Road to the World Cup 98 (1997)

UK cover star: David Beckham

USA cover star: Roy Lassiter

Italy cover star: Paolo Maldini

France cover star: David Ginola

Germany cover star: Andreas Möller

Spain cover star: Raul

Beckham, Maldini, Raul, Moller, Ginola and er..Lassiter. Not a bad superstar lineup considering we’re not even into the new millennium.

 

FIFA: Road to the World Cup 98 had a refined graphics engine, 16 stadia and a Road to the World Cup mode with fully FIFA registered teams. What more could you ask for!

In terms of the gameplay advancements, the offside rule is finally properly implemented for the first time and there’s also a licensed soundtrack featuring popular tunes from the time. Blur’s Song 2 formed the intro song, which I can imagine would simply never get old.

FIFA 99 (1998)

UK cover star: Dennis Bergkamp

USA cover star: Kasey Keller

Italy cover star: Christian Vieri

France cover star: Fabien Barthez

Germany cover star: Olaf Thon

Spain cover star: Fernando Morientes

South Korea cover star: Ahn Jung-hwan

Japan cover star: Hidetoshi Nakata

Portugal cover star: Rui Costa

Dennis Bergkamp looking as cool and as graceful as ever as he is about to unleash a rocket of a shot into the top corner.

It was back to normality in a way for the FIFA series as EA Sports reverted back to club football with FIFA 99. By this time, EA Sports’ premier series was once again a bestseller in the UK, replacing Tomb Raider III.

 

Out of the door went indoor mode and in came the Belgian First Division and the Portuguese Liga. Basic facial animations gave each pixelated player at least some shred of personality and graphics, responsiveness and fluidity of gameplay were all improved.

But one addition to the franchise which I feel I must touch upon is the hallucinogenicly-named, “European Dream League” in which 20 top teams from across Europe competed in a giant league format which is an idea I wouldn’t mind putting to the big shots at UEFA now actually!

FIFA 2000 (1999)

UK cover star: Sol Campbell

USA cover star: Eddie Pope

Italy cover star: Vincenzo Montella

France cover star: Emmanuel Petit

Germany cover star: Mehmet Scholl

Spain cover star: Pep Guardiola

South Korea cover star: Kim Byung-ji

Portugal cover star: Simão

Netherlands cover star: Jaap Stam

Greece cover star: Vassilios Tsiartas

Sweden cover star: Par Zetterberg

The list of cover stars for FIFA 2000 certainly had a mixture of stardom and obscurity. Pep Guardiola, who won 14 trophies in four years in charge of Barcelona, took centre stage on the Spanish cover. Meanwhile, Sweden’s Par Zetterberg career highlight was probably making the switch from Anderlecht to Olympakos.

 

FIFA 2000 included 40 classic teams enabling players to play as retired football legends, an idea which has recently been brought back to the series via legend cards on FIFA Ultimate Team.

Although there were fully integrated seasons, physical contact and tougher tackling, the title was criticised for a cartoonish graphic engine and shallow gameplay.