# The 14 Best Athletes to Appear on a Video Game Cover

> Box art outlives careers. These are the faces that sold a console generation.

*By YPB Team · Published August 5, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-14-best-athletes-to-appear-on-a-video-game-cover*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Tony Hawk**
   Fronted Pro Skater and turned a niche sport into a franchise that sold tens of millions.
2. **Michael Jordan**
   Covered NBA 2K11 and 2K12, the games that reset the series after a decade of Kobe and LeBron.
3. **Ronda Rousey**
   The first woman to be a global cover athlete for a major EA Sports game, on EA Sports UFC 2.
4. **Eddie George**
   The first player to replace John Madden on a Madden cover, on Madden NFL 2001.
5. **Ken Griffey Jr**
   His Nintendo baseball games were the reason a generation learned a swing.
6. **Bo Jackson**
   Got his own NES baseball game while also being the most broken player in Tecmo Bowl.
7. **Lionel Messi**
   Fronted FIFA for five straight editions, the longest run any player has had on the cover.
8. **Cristiano Ronaldo**
   Took over the FIFA cover in 2018 and 2019 at the height of the Real Madrid years.
9. **Conor McGregor**
   Covered EA Sports UFC 3 during the year he was the biggest name in combat sports.
10. **LeBron James**
   On more NBA 2K covers than anyone, including the 2K14 edition sold worldwide.
11. **Tiger Woods**
   His name was the golf series for fifteen years, and the cover was always him mid-swing.
12. **Serena Williams**
   Fronted Top Spin 4 alongside the men, unusual for a tennis game of that era.
13. **Shaquille O'Neal**
   Got his own fighting game, Shaq Fu, which is remembered for all the wrong reasons.
14. **Alex Morgan**
   Shared the FIFA 16 cover in the US, the first woman on any FIFA box.

Tags: brands, games, sports, athletes