While being gay remains a taboo in men's soccer, lesbian female soccer players are highly visible
February 19 commemorates the International Day Against Homophobia in Football, In honor to Justin Fashanu, the first soccer player who made his homosexuality publicly known. It was 1990 and the date of his birth was chosen to pay tribute to him. More than three decades have passed and in Spain he has only made his homosexuality public. Jakub Jankto, footballer of the Getafe which is currently on loan to the sporting prague. She did so last week in a statement via. of his social networks and has become an example for other footballers LGTBI. In 33 years, only one Spanish professional player has dared to come out of the closet.
Quite the opposite happens with professional soccer players who are much freer and have no problem showing their affective sexual orientation openly. In Spain there are many examples like Irene Paredes, Melanie Serrano, Ana Romero, Lola Gallardo, Vicky Losada or Mapi Leon.
It is estimated that there are 142 gay professional soccer players in Spain
A study of the Universities of Córdoba and Seville carried out with data from 2016, estimated a figure of 42.000 federated LGBTI players within the world of soccer, of whom “142 they would do it like professionals.” The data is deduced from a study that estimates the European population that forms part of this group at 6%.
"If this hypothesis is fulfilled in Spain, about 1,3 million people LGTBI would practice sports, and 270 of the 4.453 high-level athletes registered with the Higher Sports Council in 2017 would belong to it”, is deduced from the study.
