蜜芽传媒

Czech Republic football player, Jakub Jankto is the first international men's footballer to publicly come out as gay while still playing at the top of his career. He said he "no longer wants to hide".

The Sparta Prague midfielder, 27, on loan from Spanish side Getafe, made the announcement on Twitter.

"Like everybody else, I have my strengths, I have my weaknesses, I have a family, I have my friends," he said.
"I have a job that I have been doing as best as I can for years with seriousness, with professionalism and passion."

He added: "Like everybody else, I also want to live my life in freedom without fears, without prejudice, without violence but with love. I am homosexual and I no longer want to hide myself."

The story is "huge" according to Kry拧tof Stupka, an LGBT rights activist, and Czech UN youth delegate in Prague.

"It's truly historical... there wasn't a gay footballer in the history of the Czech Republic... so this is huge. We don't have gay politicians but we have a lot of gay influencers so it depends on what you do... a large part of the society is still homophobic. I hope it's going to inspire future change."

(Pic: Czech Republic international Jakub Jankto; Credit: PA)

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