FIFA 16 to feature women's football

EA Sports has released one of the key new features of the upcoming FIFA video game set to be released in September. For the first time in the FIFA franchise history, gamers will be able to play as women's national teams.

Gamers will have the opportunity to choose from 12 teams which consist of: Germany, USA, France, Sweden, England, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Spain, China, Italy, Mexico. The teams will be available to play in Match Day, an Offline Tournament, and Online Friendly Matches.

This is a major breakthrough in women's sports and one that was highly sought after by FIFA gamers with the creation of an online petition previously earning thousands of signatures.  The news was warmly welcomed on Twitter by many football fans and is a massive announcement ahead of the FIFA Women's World Cup that kicks off in Canada next week on June 6th.

Speaking to EA Sports, United States forward Alex Morgan had the following to say "It is such an honor for women’s players and our team to be included in FIFA 16. I always wondered what it would be like to see our team in the game and it is very cool to know that it is now a reality."

Women's National Teams are authentically represented in the game by EA Sports with the technologies used to re-create 3D player modelling including running motion, facial animations and hair movement. The aim of the game features is for players to look and move just like they do during real competition. Below is an image comparison of England captain Steph Hougton.

Watch the first trailer of the new feature below:

The game is set to be released in September on PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 & PlayStation 3 platforms.