On Friday, EA Sports released FC 25, the latest edition of the company's best-selling soccer video game — now with increased playability and storytelling on the women's side.

For the first time in history, EAFC — formerly known as FIFA — is throwing Women's Manager and Player Career Mode into the mix. In Career Mode, players now have full access to 2024/25 rosters across the world's top women's leagues: NWSL, WSL, Première Ligue, Frauen-Bundesliga, and Liga F plus UEFA Women's Champions League.

"It's been a few years since they've been implementing women into the game and I've had a presence in this community," Gotham forward Midge Purce told JWS at Thursday night's FC 25 launch party in New York City. "It's been fun to see that presence grow in a really authentic way. For the first time ever, women have Career Mode and that's a really sick addition that you wish came from the beginning, but it's really nice that it's being added now."

According to EA Sports, Women's Career Mode features all the same detailed capabilities as Men's Manager Career Mode, but also incorporates "unique challenges that exist solely within the women's game." 

FC 24's Ultimate Teams paved the way for Women's Career Mode

Last year, FC 24 introduced women's football athletes into the brand's popular Ultimate Team mode. This addition allowed users to create their dream squads with both current stars as well as titans of the game like Mia Hamm and Kelly Smith as well as comic book-inspired "Women's Heroes," or stylized versions of real-life legends like Sonia Bompastor.

This year's upgrade represents a significant shift in programming for EA FC, which ended its 30-year partnership with international soccer's governing body FIFA after the game's 2023 release. The success of 2024's Ultimate Team inclusion likely preempted EA Sports' decision to expand women's soccer offerings to Career Mode. In addition to the managerial track, FC 25 users can also start a career on the pitch, following a player from team to team as they build skills via training and gameplay.

"The key thing that we wanted to do was present the women's career authentically, and make it feel like it really was, not just like men's career with women players," EAFC 25 design director Pete O'Donnell told reporters at a July 2024 preview event. "A lot of the systems behind the two mostly work the same, but it's the financial models and other things that make a really big difference."

In FC 25, women's soccer stars are on par with the men

FC 25 is the second video game to feature a career track for athletes in women's sports, following 2K Sports' 2021 edition of NBA 2K.

However, NBA 2K's The W mode operates separately from the men's side, while FC 25 takes a more integrated approach, allowing users to transition from playing on a women's team to managing a men's team, while Ultimate Team also allows athletes from both men's and women's leagues to play on the same squad.

According to Purce, seeing women's soccer elevated to the same level as men's, even in video game form, can impact users long after they turn off their consoles.

"When you can see and play with other players, that's crazy — like there's [ACFC star Sydney] Leroux in the locker room," she said. "It just makes it easier for girls to be engaged in it in a way that we haven't been before.

"When I was younger I used to play what was known as FIFA, but I would've played more if there were women I could have played with. If I could've used [Japanese soccer icon Homare] Sawa, I'd have loved that. That would have been nuts."

EA FC's women's soccer offerings show broad appeal

And it's not just young girls taking advantage of EA FC's increased interest in the women's game.

In FC 24's first 24 days on the market last year, EA Sports released statistics showing that 357 million online Ultimate Team squads had at least one women's soccer star among their starting XI. Additionally, women's leagues accounted for four of the top 10 leagues in terms of representation across all online Ultimate Teams. 

"My brother, who plays EA a lot, he'll call me and get really upset about my ratings, or he'll use me and be like, 'You just scored a goal!'" Purce continued. "To be in the conversation — where they do know you and they're either happy or upset — that's sports. In the sports world, it's more important to be in the space than anything else."  

EA SPORTS FC 25 is now available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

UConn’s big NCAA championship win over South Carolina on Sunday weighed in as ESPN’s third most-watched title match in women’s March Madness history, with an average viewership of 8.6 million fans and a peak of 9.9 million.

Also making a viewership mark last weekend were Friday's Final Four tilts. Both the 4.2 million fans who tuned into UConn's win over UCLA and the 3.7 million who saw South Carolina take down Texas helped those games claim spots in the sport's Top 10 most watched across ESPN platforms.

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The 2025 grand finale fell short of the Caitlin Clark-fueled 2023 and 2024 championship games. However, Sunday’s matchup towered over the 2022 edition with an impressive 75% viewership increase.

The 2025 championship more than doubled the 2021's 4.1 million viewers. This demonstrates a sharp continued uptick in the sport's widespread popularity.

With the 2024/25 NCAA women's basketball tournament scoring massive viewership numbers from tip-off through trophy-lifting, it's not entirely surprising that this season's edition registered as the second most-watched women's March Madness on record, boasting an impressive 8.5 billion minutes of content consumed.

Auriemma, Staley push for new March Madness media deal

Both 2025 NCAA championship-contending head coaches subsequently voiced support for securing a new media rights deal. They seek one that separates women's basketball from its current package alongside 39 other collegiate championships.

"For years and years and years we’ve been packaged with all the other Olympic sports, so to speak, in one big chunk. Can we completely separate ourselves and say, 'What are we worth to you?,'" UConn manager Geno Auriemma said on Sunday.

Although a separate deal is a tough ask given that the current contract runs through 2032, South Carolina boss Dawn Staley echoed Auriemma's sentiment. She advocated for a standalone deal similar to the one that's brought lucrative success to the men's tournament.

"I don't know if [new WBCA president Jose Fernandez] can get that, [but opening] up negotiations for a new television deal would be nice," said Staley.

"We need our own television deal so we can understand what our worth is."

The NWSL Players Association released their most recent collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to the public on Tuesday, offering up all of the contractual details and league rules governing compensation, player trades, and other deciding factors through 2030.

Ratified in August 2024, the CBA includes several previously announced and already implemented bold strokes like establishing league-wide unrestricted free agency and a pathway towards revenue sharing, as well as the abolishment of the draft.

Tuesday's unedited document takes contract transparency a step further, outlining additional details such as protections for player data, including usage and privacy rights, and regulations and compensation surrounding name, image, and likeness usage.

In a boost to athletes' paydays, the NWSL's minimum salary will grow from $48,500 to $82,500 (plus bonuses) by 2030 under the new CBA, though an additional clause dictates that a revenue surge could see those terms renegotiated before the contract’s end.

The agreement also codifies financial benefits for family-building and increases support for players with children, plus connects housing stipends to the actual costs of living in each NWSL market.

Notably, the new CBA also bolstered the league's mental health leave, a resource that's already assisting NWSL stars like Angel City's Sydney Leroux and Racing Louisville's Bethany Balcer.

The puck dropped on the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Czechia early Wednesday morning, when the world’s most competitive hockey stars hit the ice for the annual international tournament.

Canada enters as the reigning champion after defeating the US 6-5 in overtime last year to earn their third IIHF title in four years.

Through the tournament's 23 previous editions, the USA and Canada remain the only winners, with the bitter rivals facing off in all but one gold-medal game — the 2019 finale in which Finland took silver behind the US, and Canada snagged bronze.

Both teams feature experienced squads this year, with 13-time tournament contender Marie-Philip Poulin captaining Canada while Team USA relies on the veteran leadership of Hilary Knight, now skating her 15th Worlds — a new IIHF record.

PWHL athletes take center stage at 2025 Worlds

Strengthening North America’s grip on the contest even more is the PWHL, with the second-year league sending 57 players — over 40% of its total athletes — to this year’s World Championship.

In the USA's 7-1 opening win against Finland on Wednesday morning, PWHL players produced every US goal, with the Minnesota Frost’s Kelly Pannek and Ottawa Charge’s Hayley Scamurra recording two each.

The PWHL kicked off the final international break of its 2024/25 season on April 3rd, with plans to resume after the Championship’s conclusion on April 26th.

How to watch the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship

The 2025 IIHF World Championship begins Wednesday, April 9th, and runs through the tournament's 12 PM ET championship game on Sunday, April 20th.

All US games will air live on the NHL Network.

Two of the biggest names in NCAA basketball revealed their transfer portal decisions on Tuesday, as student-athletes continue to weigh their options ahead of the April 23rd deadline.

Prospective top 2025 WNBA Draft pick Olivia Miles will instead play out her final year of collegiate eligibility at TCU, making the leap to the team that knocked her Notre Dame squad out of this season’s national tournament.

"I just want to be a pro without being a pro," Miles told TNT. "Every day on campus I want to be the way a pro would be, so I'm prepared when I do actually go to the league."

Similarly, Division I's 2024/25 leading scorer Ta'Niyah Latson announced her departure from Florida State to join 2025 NCAA runners-up South Carolina on Tuesday.

Latson already has connections in the Gamecock locker room, having played high school ball with South Carolina guard Raven Johnson — a draft-eligible junior who recently hinted she’ll be sticking around for one more NCAA season.

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Strong teams prevail as NCAA transfer portal continues

As strong teams like South Carolina and TCU grew stronger this week, talent drain affected other top squads, including 2025 Final Four contender UCLA.

The Bruins saw three highly touted freshmen enter the transfer portal this week, with Elina Aarnisalo, Kendall Dudley, and Avary Cain seeking fresh starts to their sophomore years.

The talented young trio are likely seeking increased playing time, as the Bruins will return most of their 2024/25 starters next season, all while adding top recruit Sienna Betts — the younger sister of Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Lauren Betts — to the mix.

All in all, college basketball’s new era can be dizzying but, while the portal's carousel is far from done spinning, the 2025/26 field is starting to take shape as players make their transfer announcements.