From FIFA International Soccer to FIFA Football 2002

27 FIFAs: A history of box covers, Part 1

FIFA

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1. FIFA International Soccer (aka the First one): David Platt and Piotr Swierczewski graced the cover of the first one, then called FIFA International Soccer. Some versions of the game got Packie Bonner and Ruud Gullit (Image credit: EA Sports)

2. FIFA Soccer 95: The game introduces the familiar title pattern ending with the year and features then-Tottenham Hotspur and Norway goalkeeper Erik Thorstvedt. Alexi Lalas was on some versions. (Image credit: EA Sports)

3. FIFA Soccer 96: They already made it clear who’s the global leader in sports video game sales with this one. Welsh defender Andy Legg and Romanian midfielder Ioan Sabău were on the cover in the US, while Frank de Boer and Jason McAteer graced the European cover. (Image credit: EA Sports)

4. FIFA 97: The game dropped the “soccer” clarification and its title got its current form. The cover in Europe featured French star David Ginola. In the rest of the world, it was Bebeto who graced the cover. (Image credit: EA Sports)

5. FIFA 98: Road to World Cup: England and Manchester United’s superstar David Beckham graced the UK cover of this one, which had the successful Road to World Cup mode, the only one to include all national teams on the planet. Regional cover stars included: Andreas Möller in Germany, Roy Lassiter in the USA, Paolo Maldini in the Italian version, David Ginola again in France, while Spanish fans got Real Madrid’s Raúl (Image credit: EA Sports)

6. FIFA 99: Arsenal’s Dennis Bergkamp was on the global cover and the game came with fluidity and responsiveness improvements. Olaf Thon graced the cover in Germany while Fabien Barthez, Rui Costa, and Fernando Morientes were selected for the regional covers in France, Portugal, and Spain, respectively. (Image credit: EA Sports)

7. FIFA 2000: At the turn of the millennium, EA opted for even more different regional covers tailored to different markets. Sol Campbell, Vincenzo Montella, and Pep Guardiola were some of the players who were featured.

8. FIFA 2001: Germany got Lothar Matthäus who had just retired from professional football. Paul Scholes was on the UK cover, while Thierry Henry graced the box in France. (Image credit: EA Sports)

9. FIFA Football 2002: Thierry Henry graced the cover in France, UK, and the USA. Some other regional cover stars included Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden), Nuno Gomes (Portugal), Francesco Totti (Italy), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands), Roberto Carlos (Brazil) and Iker Casillas (Spain). The game saw the introduction of power bars for passes. (Image credit: EA Sports)

Kiril Stoilov

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We look back at FIFA’s most iconic game box covers that have been recoding football’s history since late 1993 through the game’s biggest stars.

It’s been more than 26 years since EA released the first FIFA game on December 13, 1993. The series has changed in many ways since its initial installment but has been constantly dominating as the go-to football (or soccer, if you will) simulator ever since.

Here's the first part of this journey, starting from the very beginning to FIFA Football 2002. Stay tuned for more FIFA cover history, here on EarlyGame.