German footballer's g-out shows challeng of beg gay soccer

gay german football player

Thomas Hzlsperger, who retired September after a reer wh proment teams Germany, Italy and England, revealed that he was gay an terview wh the weekly Die Ze.

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STORM OVER 'BUNCH OF GAYS' GERMANY'S WORLD CUP TEAM

Agent of jured pta Michael Ballack alleged to have sneered at 'bunch of gays' natnal team * gay german football player *

A-League Men midfielr Josh Cavallo says he knows there are other players “livg silence” after beg the only known current male top-flight profsnal footballer the world to e out as gay. Labor senate lear and openly gay woman, Penny Wong, tweeted: “Any young person who is stgglg wh their inty, or feelg exclud or judged, n look today to Josh Cavallo. Amerin former Leeds player Robbie Rogers also announced he was gay on retirg 2013, before returng to the field wh LA Galaxy and wng the MLS Cup to bee the first openly gay male athlete to w a major profsnal team sports tle the Uned 2019, former Newstle Jets player Andy Brennan beme Atralia’s first profsnal male footballer to e out while still playg the game.

German football was engulfed ntroversy today over remarks by the agent of a top footballer, who allegedly referred to a "bunch of gays" the natnal team. Michael Becker, who has been the agent of German natnal football pta Michael Ballack for more than a , is reported to have ma the ment the latt edn of the news magaze Der an say entled New German Men, Aleksanr Osang reunts an terview he had wh Becker prr to the World Cup which the agent allegedly told him which of the players the team were gay. Asked about the sexualy of one of the newer players, Becker, who is a lawyer by profsn, referred to him as beg "half gay" went on to say that Becker put the new adro, lighter and elegant style of play that has bee a tramark of traer Joachim Löw's players down to their homosexualy, ntrast to the typilly more aggrsive and offensive German style of past years, but suggted they played too litely to assure themselv a place the fal.

The German Football Feratn, which is the sportg associatn wh the largt membership the world, refed to ment, while Löw said he "would not stoop so low" as to the ments have raised ncerns that homosexualy remas one of the major taboos the footballg world. The only German footballer to have outed himself as gay is the former regnal league player for Erfurt Marc Urban, and that was only after his profsnal reer was over.

20 INSPIRG GAY AND LBIAN FOOTBALL (SOCCER) PLAYERS

English and German locker rooms may be more welg of gay players like Thomas Hzlsperger than their unterparts US sports, but there is still far to go, say experts. * gay german football player *

Daniels ma headl May 2022 when he beme the send profsnal English soccer player to publicly e out as gay, 32 years after Jt Fashanu boldly claimed the tle. Many high-profile English people praised him after he me out as gay, cludg Prce Harry, then-Prime Mister Boris Johnson, and England natnal team pta Harry Kane.

This is where Matt Pacifici beme known through his Instagram announcement, a former Major League Soccer player who has e out publicly as gay an Instagram post troducg the world to his boyiend. In June 2018, he me out as gay, makg him the only openly gay player any of the big five Amerin sports leagu or any top-tier profsnal men’s natnal soccer league.

Anton has been dubbed the “first high-profile Swedish footballer to announce that he is gay, ” as well as the “send active profsnal football player to e out, ” followg English footballer Jt Fashanu 1990. In December 2017, Davis publicly cricized ments ma by FA chairman Greg Clarke that “profsnal players who out themselv as homosexual would be takg a risk.

THE GAY FOOTBALLER WHO CHOSE EEDOM OVER ‘NSTCTED PRISON’

In 1990, Jt Fashanu beme the first football player to publicly e out as gay. Sce then, only seventeen players have done the same. * gay german football player *

The 32-year-old has spoken out to enurage male gay footballers to not be aaid of g out, sharg his own experienc as part of Uefa’s Equal Game mpaign, which aims to promote greater cln and diversy the sport. Pter experienced homophobia om other players while playg for his lol club and was moted om the first to the fourth team after one of his teammat disvered he was gay.

GERMAN FOOTBALLER'S G-OUT SHOWS CHALLENG OF BEG GAY SOCCER

‘NFL 360’ profil five LGBTQ people wh a sports background, cludg three openly gay football players, on the impact of Nassib g out. * gay german football player *

Former Uned Stat natnal team player Robbie Rogers recently announced he was gay on the same day he retired om the sport, while Swen-based Anton Hysen is currently the only openly “out” player Europe. Her ments me followg an article a German magaze which an anonymo gay Bunsliga player said the fear of add media attentn was the reason why he hadn’t announced his sexualy. Fans of the club, formerly n by openly gay print Corny Ltmann, staged a monstratn agast discrimatn which clud brightly-lored posters and a banner readg, “Football is everythg – even gay.

Fifteen years on om Fashanu’s suici, wh other sports such as gby and basketball settg a precent and wh the NFL reportedly closer than ever to havg a homosexual player, is the betiful game ready for a high-profile gay star? Urban has told his story the book “Hidn Player: The story of a gay footballer, ” while he is also somethg of a life ach, nsultg wh anizatns – cludg football associatns – on issu of diversy and tegratn. Acrdg to Urban, former Wal ternatnal gby player Gareth Thomas – who told the world he was gay 2009 – has set out the perfect blueprt for others to follow.

Former German natnal and English Premier League midfielr Thomas Hzlsperger has jt bee the hight-profile soccer player to announce that he is his announcement, which after his retirement om the profsnal game, highlights the ongog challeng that openly gay players face German and English soccer, spe greater locker-room acceptance of homosexual teammat there than the discsn about homosexualy soccer has for too long been “simply ignored, ” said recently retired Mr. “I was never ashamed of beg who I am, but was not always easy to s at a table wh 20 young men and listen to jok about gays, ” Hzlsperger told the Premier League player’s cisn to reveal his sexualy after his retirement September is a mendable step, but rerc jt how difficult is to e out of the closet while an active football player, says Marc Naimark, a spokman om the Feratn of Gay Gam. The moment “’s absolutely not normal” to e out as a gay footballer Germany, says Kls Hssle, the -print of the European Gay and Lbian Sports Foundatn.

8 MALE FOOTBALL PLAYERS WHO DARED TO COME OUT AS GAY

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Players rema anx that their teammat will perceive them as “sissi” or that they will ph away is hopeful that Hzlsperger’s move will advance a discsn about homosexualy among sports players – pecially far ls gay-tolerant untri such as Rsia – when he meets wh the Olympic Natnal Commtee Germany on Friday. Robbie Rogers, an Amerin who ed to play for Leeds Uned, announced he was gay and retired 2012 (though he returned to the game last year and now plays for the Los Angel Galaxy). Most wa until they know their teammat well enough to build tst and make the out as a football player Bra or Germany would be much easier than the US, argu Profsor Anrson, due to the public's ls strongly held relig players do e out, they exhib better athletic performance, as they are able to ncentrate better wh their creased peace of md, says Tatjana Eggelg, a cultural anthropologist who advis gay profsnal athlet Eggelg has helped a few of the players she has worked wh – cludg those the Bunsliga, the untry’s profsnal soccer league – reveal their sexualy to iends, fay, and sometim to tsted teammat, but not yet publicly, she says.

THREE GAY FOOTBALL PLAYERS FEATURED NFL NETWORK SEGMENT ON CARL NASSIB

It is believed by many that male profsnal footballers are not openly gay or bisexual parison to female players. Read on to fd out more about the homosexual male players football history. * gay german football player *

So, many profsnal leagu, teams, and players are raisg their voic to fight back agast homophobia so that gay footballers don’t face backlash while g out.

“When I returned to football my sophomore year after g out was bee I knew that if I qu football was jt the begng of thgs I would qu or hold myself back om bee I was gay, ” Strer told Outsports. “To fast forward to my last football game my senr year and have end wh ‘NFL 360’ there to clu me a story celebratg the first openly gay football player NFL history is still really unbelievable to me. Their experienc are universal, ways good and bad, for many LGBTQ people — Pick talkg about the pa om the ial rejectn by her mom; O’Callaghan discsg suicidal thoughts before beg rcued by a therapist; Rapoport’s touchg rellectn of g out to NFL Commissner Roger Gooll by approachg him at a Super Bowl event holdg her girliend’s hand and Gooll’s se upon seeg ; Saffold discsg growg up Black and gay on the South Si of Chigo “where there are rampant levels of homophobia” and Strer on how he ed to worry “about how bad my life might be after I me out.

FORMER GERMAN WORLD CUP PLAYER COM OUT AS GAY

8, 2014BERLIN — Thomas Hzlsperger, a midfielr who ma 52 appearanc for Germany’s natnal team, helped Stuttgart pture the Bunsliga champnship 2007 and played for proment teams Germany, England and Italy, ma perhaps the biggt news of his reer on Wednday by g out as a homosexual. Hzlsperger, 31, said he timed his cisn to the Wter Olympics Rsia, a untry wh much-cricized antigay laws, and dog so beme the first proment soccer player Germany to e out as gay.

He told the weekly Die Ze that he had summoned s reporters to discs his homosexualy and the phenomenon general soccer Germany, one of the powerho of the world’s most popular sport. “To this day, I don’t know one player personally who has exprsed himself on the topic, ” beyond the ual jib about gays at postgame celebratns, he add. You even say ‘gay pass’ after a weak pass to another player, ” he said, admtg that he had also ed that Mac Matzen/RtersA range of German sportg and polil personali, some of them gay, offered plds, not cricism, to Hzlsperger for his cisn to e out.

BUNSLIGA STARS OFFER SUPPORT TO GAY FOOTBALLERS

”Hzlsperger attracted wispread attentn 2012 when he gave another terview to Die Ze about a published nversatn wh an anonymo soccer player who said he was gay.

The anonymo terview also attracted the attentn of Chancellor Angela Merkel, an avowed soccer fan, who ed to remd Germans that they are part of an open anonymo gay player “liv a untry where he need not fear g out, ” she said September 2012 when lnchg a natnal “tegratn day” German soccer.

(1:02)Stephan Uersfeld, Germany rrponntFeb 17, 2021, 09:23 AM ETMore than 800 players, both male and female, across Germany have offered their support to any gay footballer addrsg their sexual footballers said they would offer support to anyone stgglg wh their cisn to e out public and, if need be, fend them " the face of hostily. "It's now 2021 -- and still there is not a sgle openly gay football profsnal the men's game Germany, " the appeal, published by German football magaze 11 Frn, said.

GERMANY AND BAYERN STAR MAR GOMEZ URG GAY FOOTBALLERS TO GO PUBLIC

"#ihrkönntfunszählen⁠⁠In r nen 11FREUNDE Agabe #232 stärken Almuth Schult und über 800 weere Fußballernen und Fußballer Dtschland homosexuellen Spielern n Rücken.

EX-GERMANY TERNATNAL THOMAS HZLSPERGER: IT WOULD BE GREAT IF A FOOTBALLER ME OUT AS GAY DURG THE QATAR 2022 WORLD CUP

"Philipp Bommer of Hertha Junxx, the first gay fan club Bunsliga, formed 2001, told ESPN that the appeal was "credibly important for players and an important signal for both fans and society.

A leadg German footballer has urged gay players to e out and lled for a radil rethk about homosexualy the Bayern Munich striker Mar Gomez has broken ranks wh the football tablishment, cludg members of his own team and the German football feratn, who have warned that g out uld stroy a player's Gomez, who has not said whether he is gay, told a German magaze that beg hont about their sexualy would improve gay players' performance. "The 25-year-old, who was voted German footballer of the year 2006-7, add that there were plenty of role mols the rt of German society to give gay players the urage to e out.

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

So profsnal footballers should own up to their preference, " he are no openly gay players Germany's Bunsliga, reflectg the suatn across the football world, although is timated that about 10% of players are only German footballer to have e out is Marc Urban, who told his teammat 1997 and promptly end his profsnal reer.

The 39-year-old waed until 2007 before gog public wh his story, sayg he had hoped to enurage other gay players and traers to e out and th ntribute to more acceptance and tolerance is the first leadg player to urge his homosexual lleagu to go public. Others have been vehemently agast such a move, sayg would harm a footballer's an terview this year, Tim Wie, who plays goal for the natnal team and Werr Bremen, advised gay players agast g out, sayg they would be "stroyed" by "mercils fans". "The German football feratn (DFB) said that while was mpaigng agast homophobia football and would support any player who chose to e out, uld not ignore the problems that would acpany such a cisn.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH MAJOR MEN'S PRO SPORTS TO INTIFY AS GAY

FIFA WORLD CUP QATAR 2022Ex-Germany ternatnal Thomas Hzlsperger: It would be great if a footballer me out as gay durg the Qatar 2022 World CupWorld Cup will kick off a uple of weeksESEFEADAPTED BY SAM. CSTFormer Germany ternatnal Thomas Hzlsperger, who publicly revealed that he is gay back 2013, exprsed his wish to see a player do the same durg the World Cup Qatar.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY GERMAN FOOTBALL PLAYER

Jaguars assistant Kev Maxen be first male ach major men's pro sports to intify as gay.

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