Fans of United States Women's National Team soccer star Megan Rapinoe have started a petition to make her the FIFA 20 cover star. Rapinoe's star has been rising since the USWNT won the FIFA Women's World Cup, where she also took home the Golden Boot, and fans want to see her success celebrated with the FIFA 20 cover.

Soccer fan named Darren Holland has started a petition on Change.org asking EA to put Rapinoe on the cover of FIFA 20. Holland says that the petition came to be after IGN posted a mockup of Rapinoe as the FIFA 20 cover star on its official Twitter account, where it has nearly 400 retweets and more than 2,000 likes. "EA has already done more than FIFA in terms of support" for the women's game, says the petition maker, as women's international teams have been in the series since FIFA 16. Holland also calls the decision to make Rapinoe a cover star a "no-brainer."

Holland also says that this could support the USWNT in their fight for equal pay. The soccer team and fans of the sport have protested against pay disparity, as the US men's team, which hasn't won a world cup and did not qualify for the tournament held in 2018, is paid more than the women. "More exposure of this team and women's football will help change their minds," says the fan.

The Change.org petition has 1,694 signatures though this number is growing as more people are signing it every few minutes. In the reasons for signing the petition, one fan explains that Rapinoe's achievements as a Golden Boot winner and two-time world champion "deserve to be recognized." Another fan calls the USWNT #15 an "outstanding soccer player and role model" who "deserves" to be on the FIFA 20.

EA announced FIFA 20 at E3 2019 and revealed the new Volta game mode, but it has yet to announce the cover star. These fans will be hoping that EA and Rapinoe can work together before the game is released in September.

If EA did choose to put Rapinoe on the cover of FIFA 20, it wouldn't be the first time that a USWNT star has been on the FIFA boxart. In 2015, Rapinoe's teammate and co-captain Alex Morgan was on the cover of FIFA 16 alongside Barcelona player and Argentina international Lionel Messi.

EA could potentially choose to pair two international soccer stars again. France won the men's world cup last year and many would be happy to see a player like Antoine Griezmann or Kylian M'bappe join Rapinoe on the FIFA 20 cover, if EA doesn't make her the sole boxart star.

FIFA 20 will be released on September 27, 2019 for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.

Image source: Flickr - Jamie Smed with a Creative Commons license