Tag: football

The French Football Chief has said stopping matches due to anti-gay chants and banners in the stands was “a mistake” and would instruct referees to no longer stop matches over homophobic abuse from fans, putting him on a collision course with the sports ministry and the football league. Since the start of the French football

Albin Ekdal might not be a household name outside Europe, but the midfielder for Sweden’s national team and Italy’s Sampdoria has a message he wants soccer players all around the world to hear: men’s soccer can learn a lot from women’s soccer when it comes to acceptance of gay athletes. “We have a lot to learn from them in this aspect,” Ekdal told Sport Bladet in an interview recorded in Italy and picked up by UK Yahoo Sports and...

The 26-year-old former Newcastle Jets star, who now plays for National Premiere Leagues club Green Gully SC, became Australia’s first professional male footballer to come out as gay while still playing the game back in May. In an op-ed for Professional Footballers Australia, the athlete explained that it has “taken a long time” to get to a place where he can be open about his sexuality, and that he wanted to come out to feel “comfortable” with himself. “I couldn’t be...

In light of the anonymous gay footballer deleting his Twitter account, another out-gay player has thanked the world for its support: Andy Brennan. Brennan came out via Instagram in May. Now he tells The Daily Telegraph: “The reaction has been amazing, I haven’t had one negative comment. That was something I feared a lot with everyone I told, but everyone – team-mates, family, friends – has been amazing. I’ve had no problems with opposition fans either, everyone’s been really supportive....

What will it take to get soccer fans to stop chanting a slur many people consider homophobic? FIFA told referees they can shut down play. And still the chants continue. MLS has done nothing since fans chanted “puto” at the L.A. Galaxy’s Pride Night in May. At least the Galaxy sent security guards to remove those attendees they caught chanting. But still, the chants continue. That was also the case Tuesday night when the Galaxy hosted Tijuana at Dignity Health...

T-minus 24 hours! The gay footballer who’s been peeking out from the closet for the past few weeks is apparently making his big reveal on Wednesday, July 24. On Sunday, July 21, he tweeted “24.07.19 ????.” This still-anonymous Twitter account, purported to belong to a gay English Football League player, first got our attention with a July 5 announcement. “I’m a professional footballer, playing for a club in the ,” that tweet read. “I will be revealing my identity soon, but I...

Earlier this month, the anonymous footballer opened a Twitter account under the name ‘The Gay Footballer’, claiming he was a Championship player under the age of 23 and would be “revealing identity soon”. But the night before before he was expected to hold a press conference to announce his identity on Wednesday (24 July), he informed his more than 50,000 followers that the plan had changed, and that he would no longer be coming out. “I thought I was stronger....

Tuesday morning I was messaging with a colleague speculating how “Gay Footballer” on Twitter was going to get out of his self-declared coming-out date of Wednesday. The Twitter account @FootballerGay had garnered about 50,000 followers since he posted his initial message on July 5 that said he was a professional soccer player in the English Football League and would be coming out publicly. The Twitter account and its claims raised the hopes of many who believed that we would...

Photo by Edoardo Busti on Unsplash If you’ve followed the story, you probably won’t be surprised here to know that the anonymous Twitter account claiming to be a closeted professional British footballer has deleted his account. Earlier today, the account tweeted out a message saying, “I thought I was stronger. I was wrong,” according to The Guardian. A second message then quickly followed, before the account was deleted, saying: The account first began tweeting on July 5th that it was being run...

Earlier this month, an anonymous footballer opened an account on Twitter with the name ‘The Gay Footballer’. His first tweet read: “I’m a professional footballer, playing for a club in the @SkyBetChamp. I will be revealing my identity soon, but I am a proud gay man, hoping to break the mould. I am under the age of 23, and today I came out to my family.” It ended with the footballer declaring that he will “soon come out publicly”. He followed...

Photo by Tevarak Phanduang on Unsplash We have an update on Twitter’s anonymous closeted Footballer. Earlier this month, a random Twitter account announced that it was being run by a champion athlete who planned to come out soon. As he wrote on Twitter: While there has been some question to the legitimacy of the situation, many publications and media sources have reported on the account’s existence and claims of coming out. Part of this mass interest in the account and topic is...

Algeria booked their ticket to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations with a 2-1 win over Nigeria. Their fans in France were out celebrating late into the night - but the joy descended into clashes with police in Paris, Marseille and Lyon. Around 282 people were arrested in France yesterday, which included football revellers and some who were out protesting for Bastille Day. Political protesters smashed property and set fire to bins in Paris during national day festivities...

Sports have been at the forefront of my life since I was a toddler. I grew up playing football and basketball at the highest level in national tournaments and state championships. I transferred to a high school on Chicago for the sole purpose of playing a sport and went on to be a captain of the football team. It was safe to say that being an athlete was my sole identity. Although being an athlete is something that has provided...

US footballer Kelley O’Hara has seemingly nonchalantly come out by kissing her girlfriend after the US national team won this year’s Women’s World Cup. In the celebrations after the final whistle, Kelley ran to the stands, among others players, and kissed her girlfriend. Other members of the US women’s football team like Megan Rapinoe, Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris are also LGBTQ, the latter of whom are engaged. Writing on SB Nation, Kim McCauley praised Kelley, writing: “This is not a...