Jankto: “I’m gay and I don’t want to hide anymore.” The coming out that marks the turning point in football

This really can be a turning point in the battle for rights and inclusion in the world of football. Jakub Jankto, the 27-year-old former midfielder of Sampdoria and Udinese and now at Sparta Prague, has come out. “I too want to live my life in freedom. Without fear. Without prejudice. Without violence. But with love. I am homosexual and I no longer want to hide”, concludes his beautiful message posted on social media.

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It is not the first time that a footballer has declared his homosexuality, but it is the first time that it has happened with a player of this level in activity. In recent years we have witnessed the coming out of the Australian Josh Cavallo, then that of Jake Daniels, who at the age of 17 was accompanied on the journey by his club, Blackpool. It would be wrong to draw up a ranking of coming outs based on the notoriety and skill of the athletes, but there is no doubt that Jankto’s gesture, due to the relevance of his career (45 appearances for the Czech Republic), has a media effect greater. This is why we can speak of a historic day for football and for the environment that surrounds it: homophobia in the stands, machismo in the locker rooms, the widespread feeling that a backwardness of thought and language survives in this world which makes terrible to those who are “on the other side”. Not surprisingly, Jankto’s video is a sort of liberating cry: “I have a family, friends, a job, like everyone else. I don’t want to hide anymore”. His words are those of a man who simply wants to be himself. From now on, Jankto will also be an example, especially for those young people forced to live their sexual orientation in the shadows, terrified of the consequences of public exposure. And we like to imagine that, starting today, football will be more welcoming and less obtuse, more respectful of diversity.