According to German outlet Peiner Allgemeine Zeitung, a group of soccer players in Germany is planning to come out as gay collectively next month as part of an initiative to break down the walls in the sport.
The project encouraged by openly gay former footballer Marcus Urban through his association Diversero is called “Sports Free“, with May 17th – the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia – as the suggested date for the announcement.
“May 17th is an offer, a date that you could use as a guide and get together as a group,” said Urban, whose organization is in contact with the players who are planning to collectively declare their homosexuality.
Bundesliga teams behind the project
Several Bundesliga clubs are understood to be backing this initiative, with Borussia Dortmund, Union Berlin, FC St. Pauli, SC Freiburg and VfB Stuttgart reportedly providing financial support for the “Sports Free” project.
The planned group outing is not reduced to players though, with referees, coaches and other people involved in the sport also encouraged to reveal their sexuality via a platform that will go online in the coming weeks. The announcements can be through pictures, texts, videos, alone or with a partner.
There will also be a documentary titled “Hide and Seek” following the individual processes of the players in question leading up to the coming out. But the idea is to let athletes in general feel free to declare their sexuality as well, as the platform will tell stories of basketball, football, rugby and cricket players, some of whom already came out years ago. “The soccer players will see that they are just a small building block in a big game,” said Urban.
Homosexuality still a taboo in German soccer
Former Germany national team player Thomas Hitzlsperger became the first player from his country to come out as gay on January 8, 2014, shortly after hanging up his boots.
Many thought that would encourage others to feel safe to come out and trigger a movement in the sport, but 10 years later, not much has changed neither in the sport nor in Germany. The “Sports Free” project now aims to do that.
“Around professional soccer there is still this habitus that the sport is associated with very masculine characteristics, fight, dominance, strength, aggressiveness,” said Tobias Freyer, sports psychiatrist and advisor to the 2. Bundesliga side Wehen Wiesbaden. “It is no coincidence that homosexuality is still a huge taboo in male professional soccer, while it has actually always been a part of female professional soccer.”