Footballer comes out as gay on Reddit, admits he has fake girlfriend
The Nike match ball infront of rainbow flags during the Premier League match between AFC Bournemouth and Newcastle United at Vitality Stadium on February 24, 2018. (Catherine Ivill/Getty)
The player says he is too scared to come out publicly.
An anonymous German footballer has come out on Reddit.
The footballer – using the pseudonym ‘Eckfahne’ – claims he has been forced to stay in the closet by his club.
The 20-year-old also revealed that he plays in the third tier of German football and earns around 9000 euros (£7.5k/$10k).
The footballer – who used the social media platform to hold a question and answers session with fans – says has no plans to come out as gay, fearing the media attention he would receive.
He is also yet to come out to his family and has only told a few of his best friends – one of whom pretends to be his girlfriend in order to “avoid suspicion” and “seem normal”.
The player added that he only dates men who have no involvement in the footballing world.
Asked which footballers he thought were attractive, he named Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich and Mats Hummels.
Earlier this year, MPs in the UK launched an inquiry into homophobia in sport.
Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport select committee announced the inquiry in April – following on from an inquiry addressing the issue of tackling racism.
There are currently no openly gay footballers in the top tier of UK football. The CEO of Premiership team Arsenal recently said he is “absolutely convinced” players will come out in the near future – but so far none have been willing to come forward.
The investigation will look at a range of issues – including the response to homophobia in sports, the experiences of gay sportspeople, and how homophobia is being tackled at school.
Andre Gray, a striker for Burnely, faced criticism after shocking homophobic tweets from 2012 resurfaced online last month.
He is facing action from the FA, which operates a zero-tolerance policy for homophobic conduct.
Under the FA rules he could face a £12,000 fine and a two-match ban over the incident.
