Out gay footballer says he has ‘retired’ following a ‘very serious injury’

Out gay footballer Jakub Jankto says he won’t continue playing following a “very serious injury”. 

The Czech athlete left Italian Serie A club Cagliari Calcio at the end of June after his two-year contract came to an end. However, the midfielder who came out as gay in 2023, says he is no longer able to “continue in [my] football career”. 

The former Czech Republic national team player took to his Instagram story on Thursday (21 August) to address speculation surrounding his career plans. Jankto was yet to make an appearance in any 2024-25 season competitions when he said he had received “too many messages” from fans regarding his player status. 

“Unfortunately, I don’t. The reason is simple,” he began. “I suffered a very serious injury; I completely damaged the ligaments in my ankle. 

“I was trying to overcome it, to get through the whole year,” the 29-year-old said. 

Transfermarkt, a website which tracks football players’ transfers and statistics, has since marked the player as “retired”. Last season, the player was out due to an “ankle sprain” injury across seven games, as per the site. 

However, Jankto said another “key point” in his return to his hometown of Prague was due to his desire to spend more time with his child, David, whom he shares with his former partner, Markéta Ottomanská.

“I wanted to change this situation because we have just one family and I wanted to be close to my son in Prague, that’s why I decided to move [to] Prague,” he added.

“Thank you to all the people who supported me. I appreciate [it].”

In February 2023, Jankto came out as gay via a video, marking the first active senior international men’s footballer to come out publicly. 

He said at the time that he wanted to live his life “in freedom, without fears, without prejudice, without violence, but with love”.

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