Jankt’s coming out. Why is it hard to come out as gay in football?

Czech football player Jakub Jankt’s decision to openly declare his homosexual orientation has sparked a debate about how much freedom the world of football offers athletes. The 27-year-old Jankto, who is currently playing for Sparta Prague, is one of the first players from the top competition to take such a step.

“Like everyone else, I have my strengths, my weaknesses, my family, my friends. I have a job that I do to the best of my ability. For many years, with all seriousness, professionally and with passion. Like everyone else, I want to live my life freely. Without fear. Without prejudices. No violence. But with love. I am a homosexual. And I don’t want to hide anymore.’

With these words, he vented during the week 27-year-old first league footballer and Czech representative Jakub Jankto. He became one of a handful to come out as gay during his professional career in the sport. Almost immediately, important European clubs and personalities such as Brazilian striker Neymar expressed their support for Jankt.

“Questions of gender politics are not discussed much in Czech sports – and in football in particular -. From this point of view, we could talk about courage in connection with Jakub Jankt’s statement. In the international (Western) context, we could talk about that statement as a decision,” says a sports sociologist from the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University and the SYRI Institute Dino Numbered.

Listen to the entire Friday episode of the 5:59 podcast in the player:

Jankt’s appearance thus opens up a debate about, for example, homophobia in Czech football. But according to sociologist Numerat, the question is to what extent the discussion will really get going. And that’s also because the reactions of domestic units are rather lukewarm. For example, only Slavia Prague or its rival Sparta, in which Jankto is a guest, left an encouraging comment on social networks.

Video in which Jakub Jankto announced to the public that he is homosexual:

The roots of football’s rigidity can be found in its history. “Since the beginning of football clubs, since the 19th century, football has been associated with the industrial environment, with the environment of the working classes. And at the same time with strong values ​​of masculinity and everything we associate with masculinity,” explains Numerato.

But the environment is slowly changing, especially abroad. Younger fans are coming to the stands and some of them are opening this topic. Numerato describes that, for example, there are around fifty LGBT+ fan groups in Great Britain and around thirty in Germany.

“We don’t know it here. Speeches that we can observe in stadiums are, with exceptions, often homophobic. They often appear in connection with Prague Pride,” says the sociologist.

Clubs, associations or athletes’ agents can play an even more important role in the perception of homosexuals in football. Numerato, for example, reminds us that even within the FIFA federation and other football institutions, components and initiatives have been created that deal with the issue of gender or inclusivity.

“Sponsorship pressure can also play a big role, sometimes we can even say sponsor activism,” the sociologist thinks. As an example, he cites when, at the end of last year, Volkswagen, a sponsor, expressed dissatisfaction during the football championship in Qatar. She did not like the move of the organizers, who forbade the players to wear rainbow armbands.

According to Numerat, thanks to similar pressures, the football environment is gradually becoming friendlier than thirty years ago. It was then that Justin Fashanu became the first professional player in England to come out as homosexual.

At the same time, sociologist Numerato emphasizes that even because of football’s inability to set conditions that would allow players to be transparent, the image that football has in the public suffers.

“This is also one of the aspects that even football officials are increasingly aware of and, thanks to this, they are trying to introduce certain processes.”

In the 5:59 podcast, you will learn more about, for example, Justin Fashanu’s historic coming out from the early 90s. And we also talk about how football clubs can contribute to the cultivation of the environment. Listen in the audio at the front of the article.