Johnathon Clauss, said “There has yet to be an openly gay male player in the French top-flight.” Clauss attributed that to a perceived lack of empathy, causing players to “hide”. As long as it doesn’t concern them, they don’t put themselves in other people’s shoes.
Clauss also said: “I didn’t really like it when others were treated badly because of things they can’t do anything about,” Clauss said. “ I have always been on the side of those who were not very popular in the playground.”
While openly gay players in women’s football are far more common, there are currently only two examples in major top-flight football around the world — Jakub Jankto of Italian side Cagliari and Josh Cavallo of Adelaide in Australia.
Despite the growing representation of gay, male footballers, Clauss said challenges still lie with the heteronormative climate of the men’s game.
Claus, who has won 14 caps for France since his debut in 2022, urged education around homophobia to begin “among young people, starting at school”.
He added. “Raising awareness among a professional group is almost already too late.”
Clauss said he hopes for there to be “no impact” when future players come out as gay but felt he is unlikely to see it in his environment before he retires.
Players of Ligue 1 teams are set to wear armbands in the campaign against homophobia this weekend, the final match of the French top-flight’s regular league campaign.
