Jakub Jankto: ‘football is homophobic, but it will get better’ – 03/20/2023 – Sport

Had Jakub Jankto chosen a job other than professional football, he says he would probably have come out as gay a decade ago. But the Czech midfielder waited until the age of 27 to become the first active international player to come out as gay.

“Football is a bit homophobic, but I believe that with my example it will improve,” said Jankto. “I know many people who work in factories or banks [e são abertamente gays]but in football it’s always a difficult decision.”

His announcement last month was welcomed by top players like Neymar and gay rights groups, but it also drew attention to the issue: is men’s football doing enough to support players of different sexual orientations and tackle homophobic attitudes among players and fans?

FIFA shared its support for Jankto on Twitter. Two months earlier, however, the sport’s governing body had suffered from negative reactions to the World Cup in Qatar, a repressive Persian Gulf state that bans homosexual acts.

A Qatari official has referred to homosexuality as a “mental defect”, while FIFA has banned an initiative by European teams to promote inclusivity with rainbow armbands. In addition, fans were prevented from demonstrating support for gay rights inside stadiums.

Jankto described her life since coming out as one of liberation and, so far, unexpectedly without the insults and abuse she feared. He said he has received sponsorship offers since his reveal.

“Finally I can play football [sentindo-me] completely free and I don’t have to think about it, not only on the field but also off it,” Jankto told the Financial Times at his club Sparta Prague’s training ground. “Maybe I was expecting some bad reaction, but 99% of it was very good.”

Few gay players revealed their sexuality. Athletes who publicly embraced it, such as the German Thomas Hitzlsperger, often did so after retiring. In 2021, Josh Cavallo became the first openly gay player for a top-flight club, at Australia’s Adelaide United.

In England, Blackpool’s Jake Daniels in Division Two “came out of the closet” last year, more than three decades after Justin Fashanu’s late-career revelation provoked a hostile reaction. Fashanu committed suicide in 1997.

Many female soccer players, including top athletes like American star Megan Rapinoe, are openly gay. Jankto said Czech goalkeeper Barbora Votiková, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain, was an inspiration. “Perhaps men are more afraid,” he said.

Jankto recalled struggling to succeed on the pitch as he felt “under pressure” to meet the heterosexual expectations placed on male soccer stars. “From the age of 15 to 26, I always tried to date girls, but it didn’t work out. Last year I said it didn’t make sense… I didn’t want to hide anymore.”

Stefan Lawrence, senior lecturer in sports business management at Beckett University, Leeds, said women’s football had a “more open and welcoming culture” in part because it “is based on challenging ‘traditional’ gender norms”.

Men’s soccer has historically “performed the opposite function, which was to confirm and reinforce traditional gender roles,” Lawrence said, creating a “culture that tacitly promotes compulsory heterosexuality.”

Jankto has represented the Czech Republic 45 times since making his senior debut in 2017. After playing in Italy’s top flight, including nearly 100 appearances for Sampdoria following a €15m transfer from Udinese, he joined Spanish club Getafe, who loaned him last year to Sparta, the most successful Czech club.

Among the former members of the communist bloc in the European Union, the Czech Republic is one of the most progressive regarding LGBTQIA+ rights. In 1962, what was then Czechoslovakia decriminalized homosexuality and, in 1990, equalized the age of consent for sexual intercourse by 15 years. Prague legalized same-sex unions in 2006.

More than her country’s liberal reputation, however, Jankto said returning to her family environment made her decision to come out easier: “It’s definitely better for me to say this in the Czech Republic, because I’m at home. I probably wouldn’t have said it in the Czech Republic. Spain.”

Jankto said he came out as gay last year to close friends and family, including his partner, model Markéta Ottomanská, with whom he broke up. They have a 3 year old son. So he told his coach and teammates before going public in a video released last month.

In 2021, Jankto helped his national team reach the quarterfinals of the European Championship, but the Czechs failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar.

Jankto said FIFA and other government bodies “can help more” in tackling prejudice within the game, but felt the problems ran deeper than the racist or homophobic chants directed at players from the stands: “I don’t think it’s a problem [dos torcedores]is a general problem”.

Sparta communication director Ondřej Kasík said the club “decided to stay somewhere in the middle, not to become activists but at the same time protect Jakub and explain to people that the club fully supports him”.

But for the club’s younger players, Jankto’s decision has resonated. “It’s brave of him,” said Kai Jupa-Williams, a 15-year-old Canadian who moved to Prague last year to join Sparta’s youth team. He said it would make “other people less afraid” of coming out.

Jankto said he doesn’t want to become the public face of the LGBT+ movement, although he supports the work of advocacy groups. But he hopes to be best remembered for his exploits on the pitch.

“I don’t want to be the leader or spokesman for this community. I don’t want people to remember me as gay, but as a good player and a brave player.”

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves