A group of top footballers ‘plan to come out as gay and have set an announcement date for next month – including couples in a top league’
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May 17 will mark a landmark day in German football as several male footballers consider coming out as gay, according to reports.
German newspaper Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung says a group of professionals across the country will publicly declare their sexual orientation.
The date in question is particularly relevant since it is the International Day Against Homophobia.
The monumental event would still occur during the German domestic season, with the penultimate weekend of the Bundesliga, its elite championship, taking place this weekend.
It is believed that all clubs to which the players are reported are aware of the planned proposals.
Next month, several German footballers are expected to reveal their homosexuality.
The date in question is particularly important since it is the International Day Against Homophobia (photo: the Allianz Arena in Munich lit up in rainbow colors in support of LGBTQIA+)
Marcus Urban is a former German footballer who came out as gay in 2007. Now co-founder of Diversero, a global community for diversity, he hopes next month’s plans will come to fruition.
However, the Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung adds that some players still have reservations about coming out as gay and might yet turn around in doing so.
Marcus Urban is a former German footballer who came out as gay in 2007, 16 years after quitting the sport. Urban, now 52, is the co-founder of Diversero, a global community for diversity, and hopes next month’s plans will come to fruition.
“I think they are respected and celebrated for that. Not by everyone, that’s clear. But hate speech cannot be a criterion of life,
“May 17 is an offer,” he told the German Editorial Network (RND). “A date that could serve as a guide and bring you together as a group.
“There is a controversy there. Do I still want to wait for the world of football to become the way I want it to be? Why should I wait? An interesting dynamic has come into play, we can see that minds are starting to move and wonder if it really makes sense to continue to hide and deny ourselves.
Urban then revealed there were also gay couples playing in the Bundesliga – saying it would be “liberating” if they came out.
“There are also gay Bundesliga couples in hiding,” he continued.
“It would be so liberating. What’s wrong with that.’
Currently, there are no active professional footballers in Germany who are openly gay.
Former Germany international Thomas Hitzlsperger, who played in the Premier League for Aston Villa, West Ham and Everton, came out as gay in 2014, a year after retiring.
In October 2021, Adelaide United midfielder Josh Cavallo became – at the time – the only current top-tier men’s football player in the world to come out as gay.
Former Germany midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger (left) came out as gay a year after retiring
Australian Josh Cavallo became the first current active player to come out as gay in 2021.
Then 21, the Australian – now 24 and recently engaged to his fiancée last month – told the world he was tired of “living a double life”.
Since Cavallo’s revelation, three other footballers have come out as gay: Blackpool striker Jake Daniels, Cagliari’s Jakub Jankto and San Diego Loyal midfielder Collin Martin.
The first professional player to appear while he was still playing was Briton Justin Fashanu in 1990 – 32 years before Daniels – but he was never accepted into the game and tragically committed suicide in 1998.
A charity set up by Fashanu’s family published a letter last year from an anonymous gay English Premier League player that highlighted how little football culture had changed.
