Sports

International Soccer Star Comes Out as Gay

‘NO LONGER WANT TO HIDE’

“I want to live my life in freedom,” he said in an emotional video.

Jakub Jankto during the Czech Republic’s Euro 2020 quarter-final v Denmark - Baku Olympic Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan - July 3, 2021.
Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

Czech Republic international soccer player Jakub Jankto came out as gay in a video posted online on Monday. The 27-year-old athlete, who is currently on loan from Sparta Prague to Getafe in Spain, is the first openly gay player in the elite Spanish La Liga division. “Like everybody else I have my strengths, I have my weaknesses,” he says in the clip. “I have a family. I have my friends. I have a job which I have been doing it as best as I can for years with seriousness, professionalism, and passion. 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.”