<\/span><\/li>\n<\/p>\n
For the latest from the pitch sign up for our football newsletter<\/p>\n
Thank you for subscribing!<\/h2>\n
For the latest from the pitch sign up for our football newsletter<\/p>\n
We have more newsletters<\/p>\n
Jakub Jankto says coming out as gay has improved him on the pitch because he no longer has to play "scared".<\/p>\n
The Czech Republic midfielder, who's on the books of Serie A side Cagliari, became the first openly gay currently active international footballer when he announced his sexuality on social media in February.<\/p>\n
He was supported by his model ex-wife Marketa Ottomanska, who he separated from in 2021 and shares a son with. Jankto, 27, felt he was "hiding" his true self – and couldn't be happier he made the decision to open up.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Chris Sutton says Todd Cantwell is 'away with the fairies' and slates 'bang average' career<\/b><\/p>\n
READ MORE: 'Wayne Rooney will manage Man Utd one day \u2013 he's preparing for when the phone rings'<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As well as the Champions League, TNT Sports will also be offering sports fans access to games across the Premier League, Europa League, Serie A and much more.<\/p>\n
You can also watch the biggest events in boxing, UFC, WWE and get exclusive action from MLB.<\/p>\n
\u00a329.99 per month on top of \u00a38.99 per month Amazon Prime subscription<\/p>\n
"I wasn't scared when I did it," he told the BBC. "It was a huge moment for me – but after six, seven months, I can say it wasn't a mistake.<\/p>\n
"If I could do it again, I definitely would, because it helped myself and I think it helped many, many people. It was a huge moment for all footballers, and many professional footballers at many clubs wrote to me, thanking me for it.<\/p>\n
"I think it set a good, positive example for everybody, and now I'm really happy that I can play without hiding or being scared. I just carry on like nothing has happened, and that's really, really good."<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jankto was first capped by his nation in 2017 and has since made 45 appearances on the international stage, including helping them reach the quarter-finals of Euro 2020. He's previously played for Udinese, Sampdoria and Getafe.<\/p>\n
It was during a loan to Sparta Prague last season that he realised he needed to come out. "Playing professional football is a dream of mine, and I'm always searching for ways to get better," he said. "And coming out is what I needed to do to get better.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
"I also thought to myself: 'Well look, Jakub, you are a professional footballer, but you have your life that you have to live like you want.' And for me, that was fundamental."<\/p>\n
Jankto admits it's "strange" he's the only openly gay player in the top five European leagues but he "feels really good" about the reception to his sexuality in Italy.<\/p>\n
He commended how both his team-mates and fans have carried on as normal and hopes he could inspire others, adding: "Maybe we'll see more examples like me, not just in football but in different worlds as well."<\/p>\n
\n- Serie A<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bookmark For the latest from the pitch sign up for our football newsletter Thank you for subscribing! For the latest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nInternational footballer can 'play without being scared' after coming out as gay - Sports Love Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"International footballer can 'play without being scared' after coming out as gay - Sports Love Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bookmark For the latest from the pitch sign up for our football newsletter Thank you for subscribing! For the latest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports Love Me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-20T06:39:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/International-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/\",\"name\":\"International footballer can 'play without being scared' after coming out as gay - Sports Love Me\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-20T06:39:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-20T06:39:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soccer\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/category\/soccer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"International footballer can ‘play without being scared’ after coming out as gay\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sports Love Me\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"International footballer can 'play without being scared' after coming out as gay - Sports Love Me","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"International footballer can 'play without being scared' after coming out as gay - Sports Love Me","og_description":"Bookmark For the latest from the pitch sign up for our football newsletter Thank you for subscribing! For the latest","og_url":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/","og_site_name":"Sports Love Me","article_published_time":"2023-10-20T06:39:25+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/International-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/","url":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/","name":"International footballer can 'play without being scared' after coming out as gay - Sports Love Me","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-20T06:39:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-20T06:39:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/international-footballer-can-play-without-being-scared-after-coming-out-as-gay\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Soccer","item":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/category\/soccer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"International footballer can ‘play without being scared’ after coming out as gay"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/","name":"Sports Love Me","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}