Gay players in football- List of players who have come out as gay in 2023
The Top 5 Football Leagues as well as the Football World has seen hundreds if not thousands of players play their favourite sport. We at Alley Sport are here to provide you with Gay players in football. There are numerous Gay players in football, just like in other sports.
Gay Players in Football & Preview
When it comes to the visibility and portrayal of LGBTQ+ people, the world of men’s professional football has a long way to go. Nevertheless, there are indications that things are beginning to change since there are now more out homosexual male professional football players than ever before.
Let’s take a look at the Gay Players in Football:-
Jake Daniels (Blackpool FC) (England).
Jake Daniels plays forward for Blackpool in the English Football League Championship. The striker, who was 17 at the time, made history in May 2022 when he came out publicly as homosexual, becoming the first professional male footballer in the UK since Justin Fashanu in 1990.
Daniels said at the time in an interview with Sky Sports News that he was “ready to tell people my story” because he wanted his supporters to “know the real me.” Read till the end to find out about all the Gay players in football.
The goal, according to Daniels, was to “be a role model” for people who might wish to follow in his footsteps while still allowing him to live his life as he saw fit. Daniels, who is now 18 years old, has displayed maturity despite his youth in how he has handled the ensuing media frenzy.
Daniels recounts in the Channel 4 documentary Out and Proud in Football that Tom Daley’s 2021 alternative Christmas message, which urged “one impossibly brave Premier League player” to come out publicly, had a significant influence on him and inspired him to share his experience.
Josh Cavallo (Adelaide United) (Australia).
Josh Cavallo is a left-defender and central midfielder for Adelaide United in the Australian A-League. In an impassioned open letter and moving video shared on social media in October 2021, the 23-year-old celebrity came out as homosexual to the general audience.
Cavallo declared when he came out that he wants to utilise his position to help the LGBTQ+ community by bridging greater gaps. He become the world’s only active openly homosexual male professional football player at the time after making his statement.
Since disclosing his sexual orientation, Cavallo has used his platform to protest FIFA’s plan to fine athletes for wearing the OneLove diversity armband at the 2022 World Cup. Additionally, he denounced the competition’s location in Qatar, where it is unlawful to engage in same-sex relationships.
Cavallo has additionally been open regarding his connection with veteran English footballer Thomas Beattie, who came out as homosexual after his career was over. The Australian athlete said that he’s “worked closely” with Beattie and claimed that the former Warriors FC player “opened [his] eyes” to the need of coming out publicly.
Jakub Jankto (Sparta Prague) (Czech Republic).
The most recent male professional footballer to publicly come out is the Czech player Jakub Jankto. He is presently on loan from the Spanish La Liga team Getafe to play for Sparta Prague. On Monday, he publicly declared his sexuality in a poignant video on social media.
Jakub Jankto eloquently declared that he intends to spend his life “in freedom, without fears, without prejudice, without violence, but with love” in it. In the widely shared video, the 27-year-old midfielder, who has 45 caps for the Czech Republic’s national team, declared: “I am homosexual, and I no longer want to hide myself.”
Following Jankto’s tweet, messages of support poured in, with Sports Media LGBT+ founder Jon Holmes declaring the occasion to be “history-making for the men’s game.”
Zander Murray (Gala Fairydean Rovers) (Scotland).
The Lowland League’s Gala Fairydean Rovers player Zander Murray from Scotland made his sexual orientation public while he was playing for the team. His playing career began with Motherwell before he transferred to Airdrieonians, a team that also included Justin Fashanu.
The 30-year-old striker made history in September 2022 when he came out as homosexual and signed for a professional football team in Scotland. Before deciding to go out about his sexuality, he said he had been “living in fear 24/7,” and after making that decision, he also announced that he has a lover.
Speaking to Sky Sports on some of his first worries about coming out, Murray expressed his hope that others will be “inspire[d]” by his candour. No one provides you with a guidebook on how you are going to feel in public, he said, adding that coming out is one thing, but embracing it while out and about with your LGBT friends is quite another.
At the beginning of coming out, one of my anxieties was, “Oh no, what if my football friends see me, what are they going to say?” When Murray joined League Two team Bonnyrigg Rose in January 2023, he once again created history by becoming the only homosexual football player in Scotland’s top four divisions.
Phuti Lekoloane (Tornado FC) (South Africa).
For the South African SAFA Second Division team Tornado FC, Phuti Lekoloane, popularly known as Phuti Minaj, is the custodian. In July 2015, the custodian publicly came out as gay. He is still the only homosexual male football player competing at a high level in the nation.
Lekoloane claimed that many individuals were aware of his sexual orientation before coming out, but not in the football community. He claimed that when he was revealed on a live radio programme, it took him “off guard” but also revealed to him that he was “braver” than he had previously believed.
Lekoloane, 31, claims that coming out has resulted in a bad effect on his professional career, saying to ESPN: “A lot of teams close doors in my face simply due to my sexuality. It has hit me hard and has stolen a lot away from me because not everyone will feel comfortable with something they don’t know.
He gave them some words of wisdom, saying, “You need to stay true to yourself, no matter how many doors are shut in your face.”
Collin Martin (San Diego Loyal) (USA).
In the USL Championship, Collin Martin competes for San Diego Loyal. While playing for Minnesota United FC in Major League Soccer in 2018, he came out as homosexual in public. When Martin came out, he subsequently said to ESPN, “I want [my clubs] to want me as a football player and as a person.”
The 28-year-old midfielder was interviewed by the Daily Express in 2022 and expressed his opinion that agents ‘advice’ to athletes to remain in the closet may be to blame for the lack of LGBTQ+ representation.
His “biggest disappointment” in the competition, he claimed in a December interview with PinkNews, was the international governing organisation FIFA’s apparent indifference to LGBTQ+ rights. He has also been outspoken regarding the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
According to him, FIFA has shown little desire in making any real improvements to the conditions of the local populace. It ought to have gone to a more open-minded nation that is more progressive and welcomes everyone, in my opinion.
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