Southampton’s Maya Yoshida is the Face of FIFA 14 In Japan

He enjoyed a fine debut season in the Premier League and now Southampton’s Japanese international Maya Yoshida has been selected to be one of the faces of FIFA 14 in his native country, as the Saints today announce a partnership between the club and EA Sports, via their official webite.

The centre half is joined on the cover by VfL Wolfsburg’s excellent holding midfielder Makoto Hasebe, and Barcelona’s Argentine goal lord Leo Messi.

It is to the best of my knowledge the first time in my 28 years supporting the Saints that one of our players has been on a videogame cover, so a proud moment for me – just after Rickie Lambert gets his first call up for England.

Southampton Football Club released an official statement this morning confirming the deal, with Maya himself obviously very proud of the deal:

“It’s brilliant. I was really pleased when I heard that I would be on the cover of FIFA 14, and to be featuring alongside Messi is a great honour.

It’s not only nice for me, but also for Southampton Football Club because the game is such a huge platform, so to be among the list of global cover stars means so much to me and the Club.

Hopefully it will encourage fans back home to pick up the controller and play as Saints!”