Football’s Thomas Hitzlsperger on coming out: ‘If you wait for society to be ready for you, it’ll never happen’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Thomas Hitzlsperger (Image: Provided)

Currently, there are only five publicly gay professional footballers in the world. Thomas Hitzlsperger, the former Everton midfielder who came out after he retired, discusses what’s stopping more players from coming out.

Although Thomas Hitzlsperger was not the first footballer to come out as gay to the public, his decision to do so in 2014, mere months into retirement after playing for Aston Villa, West Ham and Everton, as well as the national German team, was a memorable occasion. He was, at that time, the highest profile ex-player to publicly come out. And this year he is being honoured for being an LGBTQ+ trailblazer in the sports category of Attitude 101, empowered by Bentley (see here for the full list of the 10 influential figures who made the 2025

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