The footballing world is likely to be very supportive of former Germany midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger coming out as gay, says sports columnist Jim White, but the fans may not be so broadminded
Former Germany midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger has announced in a German newspaper interview that he is homosexual.
"I'm making my homosexuality public because I would like to advance the discussion of homosexuality among professional athletes," he told Die Zeit in an interview to be published on Thursday.
The 31-year-old who played 52 times for Germany between 2004 and 2010 and spent his club career at Aston Villa, VfB Stuttgart, Lazio, West Ham United, VfL Wolfsburg and Everton is the first high-profile German player to publicly reveal that he is gay.
"I think the footballing world will be very supportive, as they were with [Former Leeds United winger Robbie] Rogers the American guy who came out recently, " said Telegraph sports columnist Jim White.
However he said he though it likely that Hitzlsperger had been advised to wait until after his retirement due to the negative reaction he may receive from fans.
"Football is one of those places where intolerance is writ large in the terraces and in the stand," he said.
"You just hope that a wider tolerance comes from this because it is ridiculous, " he added.
"A man's sexuality really should have no baring on his football. It really should have nothing whatsoever to do with it but, of course, it does.
"It does when everybody is talking about it, it does when it creates a news story and therefore these players need to be very careful how they address that."
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