Earlier today a report from CVG stated that for the first time since 2005, Wayne Rooney wasn’t to feature on the cover of a core FIFA title and it turns out they were right on the money.

At a press conference earlier today, EA confirmed the presence of the Manchester City goalkeeper and Arsenal benchwarmer, with Messi having been front-and-centre of all FIFA Street and FIFA 13 marketing since his exclusive deal with PES expired.

If you think FIFA 13 will be yet another entry into the FIFA franchise then you’d be mistaken, we’ve got a full gamescom 2012 hands-on preview coming your way in the next couple of days.

Since 2005, Rooney has featured on every core FIFA game cover. The last game to not feature Wayne’s gorgeous face was FIFA 2005, in his place were Patrick Vieira, Fernando Morientes and Andriy Shevchenko, all of which have since retired.

CVG allege that today at EA Sports ‘FIFA 13 Cover Reveal Press Conference’ -yes, we really have reached that level of self-aggrandizement- Wayne is to be ditched in favour of Lionel Messi and ‘two promising young stars’. Our money is on Sergio Aguero and Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain.

We already knew about Lionel Messi featuring prominently, having been front-and-centre of every square inch of FIFA marketing since he signed on a bosman from PES.

The FIFA 13 cover reveal press conference will be streamed live here at 6pm BST.

EA Sports has declined to comment.

Source: CVG.

Fear not, as EA have released  another fresh batch of FIFA 13 screenshots that give us a glimpse of: Messi, the revamped EA Sports Football Club, Career mode, international management and the brand-spanking new Skill Games.

FIFA 13 comes to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Wii. PlayStation 2, PSP, Vita, 3DS, Xperia Play, iOS, PC and OS X on 25th September 2012 in North America, 27th September in Australia and 28th September in Europe

The Ultimate Edition will give fans, on top of the game, 24 Ultimate Team gold packs and will only be available for one day, European launch day, 28 September.

One Ultimate Team Gold pack can be redeemed per week, over 24 weeks, with a real-world value of £15. Each Gold pack conists of a random assortment of 12 items, with players, contracts, stadiums, managers, fitness, staff, kits, balls and badges, one item guaranteed to be rare. The players which can be found in Gold Packs will all be rated 75+.

Other FIFA 13 pre-order incentives are:

Amazon: 10,000 Free EA sports Football Club credits, which can be redeemed against special celebrations, attribute boosts and more.

GAME: The exclusive Adidas All-Star Team, consisting of 23 world-class players including Karim Benzema, Luis Nani and the new face of FIFA games, Lionel Messi.

FIFA 13 is set for a 28 September release on Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Playstation Vita, 3DS, Playstation Portable.

Argentinian Lionel Messi has signed up to be the face of FIFA, EA revealed today. He was promoting PES before, before losing his place to Cristiano Ronaldo. He praised EA and said he wanted to be the face behind the team that makes that best football game in the world.

“I want to be part of the team behind the best sports football game in the world and be associated with the great EA SPORTS name. EA SPORTS is a brand that shares my values of creativity, excellence and social responsibility,” he said.

“Our FIFA franchise is the number one selling sports videogame franchise in the world, and Lionel Messi is the number one player in the world, so this agreement is a true partnership of superstars.

“With Messi on our team we have the world’s best and most exciting player to help EA SPORTS maintain its global leadership in the years ahead,” added Matt Gilby, GM of EA Sports Football.