When Electronic Arts announces a cover star for one of its sports games, it usually makes a pretty big deal out of it. For instance, back in May, it introduced Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski as cover star for Madden NFL 17 during a broadcast of ESPN’s SportsCenter.
However, for its most popular sports game in the world, FIFA 17, the publisher has opted to take a different approach, putting the vote into the hands of fans to decide. It recently introduced the FIFA 17 Global Cover Vote, where fans can vote either through the official website or via social posts on Twitter for one of the four finalists: Real Madrid C.F.’s James Rodriguez, Manchester United’s Anthony Martial, Chelsea FC’s Eden Hazard or Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus.
Fans can only vote once through the website but can tweet their favorites to their heart’s content using the auto-share feature with the hashtag #FIFA17CoverReward, also noting their favorites with separate hashtags, including #FIFA17Hazard, #FIFA17James, #FIFA17Martial or #FIFA17Reus. The winner will be revealed later this month after voting concludes on July 19th.
No matter who lands on the cover, all four athletes will serve as global ambassadors for the game, which is sure to draw in millions of soccer fans, just as previous games in the series have done.
“James, Martial, Hazard, and Reus represent exciting, attacking football and epitomize the innovative play that fans can expect in FIFA 17,” said Nick Channon, Senior Producer for EA Sports’ FIFA series. “We’re excited to see fans rally around their favorite players and see who they select as the cover star for the franchise, and the footballer who will represent FIFA 17 globally.”
EA Sports also has a number of promotions in play for FIFA 17, including a pre-order offer that includes up to 40 Gold Packs for its Ultimate Team service, as well as the ability to play the game early through its EA Access and Origin Access subscription programs. Others will likely be introduced closer to the game’s release date.
FIFA 17 arrives on September 27th for consoles and PC.
