On the 13th of February 2023, Jakub Jankto came out as gay. The past couple of years have seen two professional male football players come out, but also two former ones make a joke out of it. Jakub Jankto represents the highest-profile player to come out so far, this matters.
Four months ago former Spanish internationals, Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol, both made a joke about being gay. It appeared to be serious at first, providing hope and joy to those of us wanting increased LGBTQ+ representation in the male game, before being laughed off as a tasteless joke with the cruel slew of homophobia following.
At the time it felt to be a step back following a positive period in the sport. Current Adelaide United left back Josh Cavallo came out in 2021, followed by Blackpool’s teenage prospect Jake Daniels in the summer just gone. The fallout from the fake coming out by two men who should have known better showed two things. One of them we knew already, that homophobia is rife among the football community and isn’t taken seriously by any authorities. But the second was that regardless of how high profile the player, and how much respect they have garnered before they came out, it doesn’t appear to matter once they announce their true self.
Jankto is in what should be the prime years of his career and a current Czech international, we are going to see how top-level football deals with having a gay footballer. With respect to Cavallo and Daniels, they are not playing in the upper echelons of European football. Governing bodies such as UEFA and FIFA do not have to pay as close attention to them, because the sad truth is that they have less of a profile and thus less of a reason for people to care about any plight they might have for being openly gay footballers.
Jankto is contracted to Getafe, is on loan at Sparta Prague, and has played at the most recent European Championship. Men’s football is going to have to cross a bridge it seemingly would rather burn, having a high-profile gay player and what comes with it. The most recent World Cup was held in Qatar, I think we all know and have heard the human rights record there. Going back to the Euros, for a game in München UEFA refused a request to light the Allianz Arena up in rainbow colours. A strange decision considering they had no problem with rainbow colours before, until you see that Germany was playing Hungary. Hungary’s leader, Viktor Orbán, has made no effort to hide his disdain for LGBTQ+ people.
Any show of solidarity by football’s governing bodies to this point has been fake. Why make football a safe space for people who are not in it? Jankto coming out and playing in a landscape where matches are being played in countries he would be locked up in, marginalized, or even killed, should force change. I doubt it will, but having that representation matters.
On the positive side, it’s great that Jankto can feel comfortable enough to be open about his sexuality, it appears that at least clubs and players are happy to have a member of the LGBTQ+ community in the dressing room. I’m sure he’ll have worried at points in his career that coming out would have ruined his prospects, it’s up to the sport’s authorities to ensure that it could never be the case.
