Every Single Member of the US Women’s National Soccer Team Has Her Own Solo ‘Sports Illustrated’ Cover
Winning the World Cup is, without a doubt, every soccer player’s biggest dream. Coming in at a close second? Scoring a cover of Sports Illustrated. And now, every single member of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, which defeated Japan in the 2015 Women’s World Cup, is getting just that.
In a move that’s being referred to the Internet-over as “unprecedented,” the athletics magazine has decided to give each player — as well as coach Jill Ellis — an individual cover of her holding the World Cup trophy. There’s also a group shot (featuring defender Julie Johnston, forwards Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan, midfielder Carli Lloyd, goalkeeper Hope Solo, defender Becky Sauerbrunn, and midfielder Megan Rapinoe), making 25 covers in total.
For logistical reasons, just six of the covers will be sent to subscribers at random — but all 25 will be available on newsstands.
The decision to print so many covers was made last minute on July 7, just two days after the big win. “The USWNT has plenty of recognizable, even famous names, but we couldn’t think of a group so thoroughly identified with a team as this one,” said Chris Stone, Sports Illustrated’s managing editor. “We could go two ways: a team shot, which seemed a little conventional here, or something different and fresh: honoring not just one or two players, but all 23 of them with their own cover.”
To make up for lost time, the players were shot by photographer Simon Bruty both before and after the team’s historic ticker-tape victory parade in New York last Friday. How’s that for a quick turnaround?
Head over to Sports Illustrated to see all 25 destined-to-be-collectors’-items covers.
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