Hope and skepticism about German plan for ‘group coming out’ in professional football

• Chiem Balduk

  Germany correspondent

It was an announcement that surprised both LGBTI people and football fans: on May 17, a group of European professional football players will come out of the closet at the same time. At least, that was the announcement made by gay former football player Marcus Urban. The German is committed to acceptance of LGBTI people in football and says he is in contact with many footballers in the closet.

The announcement was widely reported in German media. From tabloids to quality newspapers: the ‘Gruppen-Coming-Out’ is coming, and the date is fixed. Afterwards, Urban continued to make headlines with new snippets of revelations. This is what he says in the NOS podcast The Shadow Spire that a couple is active in the German Bundesliga: two football players who are secretly in a relationship.

There is also some doubt and criticism, including the unusual approach of announcing the group coming-out in advance in a grand manner. An LGBTI advocate tells Tagesspiegel that the action revolves too much around Urban, who focuses too much on sensation. Other LGBTI organizations, like the DFB football association, are not involved in the campaign. “We are groping in the dark ourselves, which is why I am a bit sceptical,” a communications advisor for the association told the German newspaper.

Urban’s organization is nevertheless financially supported by several Bundesliga clubs. This mainly concerns the more progressive clubs such as FC Union Berlin, VfB Stuttgart and FC St. Pauli.

Although the first announcement mentioned a group coming-out of professional football players from at least Germany, Austria and England, Urban has now kept a more low profile. “There are several players who want to do it, but I leave the decision up to them. If they don’t come out on May 17, then they can do it every 17th of the month after that,” Urban told The Shadow Spire.

One of the main sponsors, VfB Stuttgart, also hopes that players will step forward in the “near future”. “There is now a lot of support, from the association and clubs to the media. It no longer has to stand in the way of your career,” says Alexander Wehrle, director of Stuttgart and openly gay himself. “But it is a personal choice, you have to be ready for it. I don’t want pressure to be put on players to have to reveal themselves.”

The proposed group coming out comes ten years after the most famous LGBT football player to date emerged: the German Thomas Hitzlsperger. Shortly after the end of his professional sports career, he opened up about his orientation in 2014. At the time, the hope was that Hitzlsperger as a figurehead would motivate other gay players to come out. But that turned out to be in vain: there is currently not a single openly gay professional footballer in Germany.

German football is not free from homophobia. There are also homophobic incidents at progressive clubs, where the rainbow flag is often seen in stadiums. Last January, Bundesliga champion Bayer Leverkusen was fined for a large banner with anti-LGBTI text. And last month, the presentation of the new purple-pink away shirt of the German team led to homophobic comments.

Homophobia emerged in 2022 during a survey by an LGBTI interest group among 2,300 football fans. Of respondents without an LGBTI person in their immediate vicinity, 47 percent said they would find it a problem if a player at their favorite club were homosexual.

Yet Stuttgart boss Wehrle sees many improvements in German football. “Every Bundesliga club has its own LGBTI organization. That has changed a lot within those clubs.” This obviously does not exist at small amateur clubs. “There is therefore a lot to be gained from young people in a small village, who grow up without figureheads.”

The German football association DFB says it is committed to gay acceptance, including by participating in Pride events and establishing a central LGBTI contact point.

DFB also wants to put the theme in the foreground at the European Football Championship in Germany this summer. “That should be an event like the World Cup in Qatar should have been: an event where everyone is really welcome,” the association said. Including LGBTI football players, whether out of the closet or not.