Homosexuality in association football

Homophobia has been widespread in association football throughout the world. Journalist Matt Williams stated that being a gay professional player in football is still a taboo, which journalist Simon Barnes has said will never change. In February 2013, football magazine When Saturday Comes described homosexuality as a "continuing taboo" in the sport.John Amaechi, the first NBA player to come out, has blamed football's "toxic" culture for the lack of openly gay players, while Clarke Carlisle has called for more education to be given to players to combat homophobia.

Richarlyson was named on Brazilian television as a homosexual by the manager of a rival team. When Richarlyson undertook legal action, the complaint was thrown out by the judge, who stated "football was a virile masculine sport and not a homosexual one."

In 2006, PFC Levski Sofia president Todor Batkov felt it acceptable to call referee Mike Riley a "British homosexual", following Riley's controversial sending off of Cedric Bardon during the UEFA Cup quarterfinal game against Schalke 04.

Anders Lindegaard is one of the few footballers to have spoken out against the intolerance of homosexuality in football and the absence of openly gay players from the professional game. In a 2012 blog entry the Manchester United goalkeeper wrote:

As a footballer I think first and foremost that a homosexual colleague is afraid of the reception he could get from the fans. My impression is that the players would not have a problem accepting a homosexual. Homosexuality in football is a taboo subject. The atmosphere on the pitch and in the stands is tough. The mechanisms are primitive, and it is often expressed through a classic stereotype that a real man should be brave, strong and aggressive. And it is not the image that a football fan associates with a gay person. The problem for me is that a lot of football fans are stuck in a time of intolerance that does not deserve to be compared with modern society's development in the last decades. While the rest of the world has been more liberal, civilised and less prejudiced, the world of football remains stuck in the past when it comes to tolerance. Homosexuals are in need of a hero. They are in need of someone who dares to stand up for their sexuality.

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Wikipedia