A whole bunch of NWSL players aren’t happy with how they look in FIFA 23

Sydney Leroux said her avatar is “going to scare my children”

For the first time ever, the NWSL has been added to the hugely popular FIFA franchise of video games from EA Sports.

Though that is obviously great news, several NWSL players have been discovering what their video game avatars look like in FIFA 23 — and they aren’t happy.

Some of the inaccuracies could be considered amusing, like Kailen Sheridan being bald (???) when on international duty for Canada, and then returning to her usual hairstyle with the San Diego Wave. Or Janine Beckie and her “fraternal twin.”

But others are a little more troublesome, like Houston Dash defender Caprice Dydasco, who looks to have been whitewashed on the game.

“We insist on immediate action from EA to rectify the offensive and inauthentic portrayals of players of color in FIFA 23, which were released yesterday. The NWSL Players Association, alongside our agent OneTeam Partners, has a dedicated gaming team actively working with EA to resolve this matter,” Meghann Burke, Executive Director of the NWSLPA, told CNN in a statement.

In an unsurprising development, Sydney Leroux was one of the more outspoken players on social media, pointing out that her likeness in FIFA 16 (which featured women’s international teams only) was more accurate than this year’s avatar, which she said is “going to scare my children.”

Amid the criticism, EA Sports released a statement on Friday saying they will “progressively introduce updated representations of athletes in future patches.”