Former footballers (soccer players for U.S.) that should already come out.

Other former footballers I forgot to mention:

-Alvaro Arbeloa: He liked to finger in a "joking" manner his temmates at Real Madrid, mostly during training sessions.

-Gonzalo Higuaín: Now that he recently retired, it perfectly fits in this category: 34yo, never married, no known GF, childless.

Carragher & Gary Neville must be shagging. I mean just look at how they behave with each other.

OP I feel a bit sorry for Lampard--well, as much as I can possibly feel sorry for an overpaid middle-aged nepo baby.

Frank Jr. been under enormous pressure since childhood to live up and exceed to his famous footballer father's expectations, and apparently embracing and being proud of his sexuality was never part of that. He's probably lost a lot of chances for emotional or romantic happiness due to his career and his success. Though with the lifestyle he lives now and will continue to be able to live until old age, he's probably chosen the smart path for the wellbeing of his family and his own physical health. We have to make sacrifices sometimes, and perhaps his was the right one.

Still...following the England players of my youth all these years, I do think he really has loved Stevie (Gerrard) for so long, and it kills him that media constantly pit them against each other and drive a wedge, trying to mould them into the perfect tabloid-grabbing rivals. Look at them in reality, though, and it's evident they're good friends, likely lovers at one point. Whenever they're together, they just seem to melt into one person, like there's no-one else in the room--it jumps out to anyone who sees them. Yet they will never have an opportunity to explore their feelings and relationship in a normal open healthy way, only ever behind locked hotel doors in snatched hours. It's sad.

But again, as I say, millions of quid and mansions and exotic holidays and years off work soften the blow, I'm sure.

Frank's a Tory, which limits my sympathy.

Harry Kane must be noshing off Gareth Southgate. There's no other good reason why he's got the Captain's armband, not Hendo.

Ben White and you can ask Kim K about that

^^also Dele

Kimmy's collecting gay footballers rn

Claudio Marchisio - Bi

A former footballer that has to be gay is defintely Pablo Aimar (currently assistant coach for the Argentina National Team).

R9 Aimar is GOAT Messi’s childhood idol. It would be cataclysmic if it turns out he’s gay.

R10 Op here. I forgot to mention about that as well, since that could be the biggest obstacle for him to come out, although among Argentinians is an "open secret" that he is closted. Anyway, he along with the rest of the Arg NT are world champions. They already gave their country the biggest joy they could ever had, so I guess Argentine people wouldn't care too much if he comes out. And I want to think that Messi will be very supportive of him and he'll use his power and influences to demand respect for Aimar if he eventually comes out.

R11 right. By 'cataclysmic, I meant for reasons good and bad--I should have clarified!

If Aimar came out, it would be a necessary shakeup of global football culture, forcing the bigots out into the light and into an uncomfortable position, where they have to acknowledge that some of the greatest to ever do it are gays or allies. I agree that Lionel would probably be very supportive as would many of the Argentines, and they should be proud of their nations' sports heroes for that and many other reasons. The issues and hostile criticisms I think would come from the M!ddle East, Africa, K0rea etc. where football is popular with a lot of homophobes. But something like this could change their mindset and create acceptance. Or at least we have to hope so!

R8 Claudio’s wife is...er....confident

I hope Aimar comes out and Messi decides to throw himself off a cliff.

R14 I physically flinched when you posted that. This is no way to talk about the football Messiah.

I still want to know if Pep Guardiola and Ricky Martin fucked or not back in the late 90s. He's also apparently been close friends with a gay singer/politician Lluis Llach since the 90s.

R5, it's fairly obvious that Kane is captain of England and not Hendo for the very basic reason that Kane is a guaranteed start, subject to fitness, and Hendo simply isn't. He's pretty lucky to be called up for the England team these days.

R17 Being a good leader and Captain is not about being the most decorated (Kane), most prodigious (Jude), the most popular (Grealish) or the most PR-friendly and beloved player (Saka)--actually, it usually means being the grittier, less flashy and friendly and successful person, the hardest worker against odds or in spite of lack of talent, a more stoical persevering 'get the job done' type who inspires confidence (the type to stand up to Roy Keane...Hendo's the only man who's ever done that). There's a difference between the best star striker and the Skipper, the role calls for completely different qualities and strengths, and it's very rare for someone to be capable of both. It's like automatically making the top seller or employee on the floor or front-of-house at a company the manager by default, it doesn't usually work and isn't a good idea.

Kane, bless him and with all due respect for his accomplishments, can't do both well, or even at all. Harry for all his scary talent with a ball at his feet is an introverted, self-centred Idol sort of personality (probably why Southgate is in love with him), he hasn't got the doggedness or self-sacrificial nature or ferocity of character to lead men. Jordan has. It speaks volumes that Harry's not ever even been the Captain of any of his clubs, despite being the best player and a popular valuable player at all of them, while Hendo has been the Captain of his club since 2015, and before that held the England U21 captaincy for years and even took the band a few times at Sunderland (his hometown boyhood club) with the complete backing of every other player. That's a decade of experience as a Skip. The entire passel of other Prem Captains all voluntarily call Hendo *their* Captain, even though he's their rival in the League. He's not just a Captain, he's THE Captain, the most qualified and authoritative we have in the pool of active England players. He cares so much about his teams and about their success as a collective, not just racking up goals for himself like Kane. He's like a really strict but doting father.

Watching the boys on the SGP training pitch; they all treat Harry like their golden player and respect him, naturally, but they snap to attention and don't dare talk back when Hendo gives them an instruction. He has this particular flinty Alpha death stare that's practically a meme. Jordan has more than just the admiration or respect of the lads, he has deference and obedience from them out of love and fear for him (like his predecessors in Terry, Keane and Gerrard did). It's crucial to have this person around when you're dealing with two dozen vapid ADD horny and naughty young lads all overly excited to get their caps and show off on a big stage; you need that person to slap them into line and stop them messing about so they can focus on their jobs and work hard with some humility. It's often said that Kane 'leads by example', but as far as I've seen (and I've seen a lot of England content), Hendo trains harder and longer than Harry by a long shot.

And that's why it's such a fucking crying shame and so unfair that Hendo's been denied his natural role by Southfake all these years, running down his clock so he can't lead in his prime (and let's not get into the way Hendo lost the armband, days before LFC's UCL final..depression-inducing). Kane's only a few years younger than Hendo and even more injury-prone, so that's no good excuse. If I were Jordan, I'd retire or quit in protest, or just refuse to turn up and try like Hendo's protégé Trent does when he can get away with it. But of course Hendo would never do that, because he's not like me, he's a real leader with the right qualities who won't abandon his lads or derelict his duty/honour like that.

R16 Pep advocates sex for his players to make them better lol

Being England captain is different from being a normal team captain, R18, and Kane is absolutely respected by his England team-mates. You can't have a captain who hasn't earned his place and is hardy ever on the field.

Shouldn’t this thread be a discussion of which ones of them are gay?

[quote] Being England captain is different from being a normal team captain

How? Elaborate. Because I really don't see it. It's the same sport, same set-up, same demands. If anything, being England Captain is just an easier version of the same job (which Kane hasn't done at club level, let us reiterate), because there's no language or cultural barriers amongst the team, no demands of the Prem sponsors/agents weighing on you, a clearer hierarchy in place and less competition for the position and so on. But all the same qualities are requisite, as we've just covered.

[quote] Kane is absolutely respected by his England team-mates.

At no point did I say he wasn't. In fact, scroll up and see I literally wrote that he has admiration from every other player, and deservedly so. Harry is more than fine and doing exceedingly well in his glittering life without the England armband. He's the all-time best scorer in the country, that's amazing. He just isn't viewed as the natural Captain in the honest silent heart of the team, like Hendo is and ought to be. And that's fine, no disrespect. Are you a COYS? Only a Spurs fan would need him to have the Lions' captaincy...

[quote] You can't have a captain who hasn't earned his place and is hardly ever on the field.

Except Hendo's earned it a hundred times over. As we've already gone over, he's been an England Captain in some capacity for many years at both junior and senior level (2010-2017), and he's showed up and killed himself on the pitch for that squad every time. Jordan has 74 caps for England to date and he's about to get several more--despite being called 'too old' and 'useless' and a 'passion merchant' by various armchair pundits--plus has scored 3 goals on the world stage as a CDM who isn't known for scoring or for being a technical flash player good enough to do that (bear in mind, there are World Cup forwards who only have 1 or 2 goals). That's fucking massive from him. Just because in this one season Jordan's slowed down with natural age and exhaustion and may be losing his legs at long last, that doesn't negate everything he's given and all the dedicated work he's put in. He's a fucking workhorse with life still in him, so why can't he be the leader of the string? And I think if we asked Kane, he'd agree with all that.

Really, it's just annoying me so much because I don't understand why a group wouldn't want the most experienced and committed person in a leadership role, and why the head of that group wouldn't pick such a person but rather his favourite showpony.

John Stones and Jordan Pickford are obsessed with each other, can't stop flirting.

But Hendo simply isn't a first choice team member any more, R22. This is a basic issue. Anyway, it is normal for the England captain to be the star player - Lineker, Shearer, Beckham, Rooney and now Kane were all captain for lengthy periods, without necessarily being club captains. It is clearly normal for the national team to operate like this..

R24 only the Captains you list excepting Shearer were not objectively the best in that role. They got it, and they tried their best and weren't awful, but they weren't a natural fit in the position and didn't excel or really win true leadership in the dressing room on a deep level. They got it as a popularity contest to appease the public, especially Becks, when in fact there were better candidates around the team. We've all known people who got promotions, honours or job titles they weren't suited to because they're well-liked or known.

For my money, in the Prem era Sol Campbell, Terry, Gerrard, Hart and were all the more competent Captains than your cited examples, and there are a dozen other players I'd sooner have picked who never acted as Captain. And I've been watching England all my life since the 90s, I know who worked best as a Skip and who didn't. Just because that's normal procedure, doesn't make it optimal, or right, or fair. Things need to change.

A mitigating sidebar to mention is that Official Captains are different than the Known or de facto Captains. There have been hundreds of players who wore the armband and led the team for several games or half a tournament due to unexpected injury or personnel changes, but who weren't acknowledged as Official by the chuffers at The F.A.. Gareth himself has chosen several other de facto Skippers for certain games, e.g. Trippier & Sterling being two players that I thought were better leaders than Harry. So it's difficult to say who was the best without getting into the mud of who counts according to rules and who doesn't. For me, it's more about personality and experience and natural authority, than starting caps, results and who breaks records or gets into the papers. You can motivate a dressing-room and lead a team from the bench, sometimes, almost like an assistant manager (Hendo has done that for LFC before).

Anyway, as R21 says we're derailing OP's fine thread and acting like annoying fangurl whores, so I'll leave it at that. Tbh I don't know anything about MLS or U.S. football, except that the womens' team are legendary, Christian Pulisic isn't very good and you can have him back across the pond any time, and Lampard/Gerrard had their honeymoon there.

R19 Too bad his injury caused him to miss the 1998 world cup.. who knows how well he would've done having sex with Ricky!

R9 everyone in football fandom ships Pablo with Lionel Scaloni. the ao3 tag is popping

R26 France ‘98 had some totty. Pep missed out on more than Vida Locock.

Souness & Keane give me UST vibes uno

Souness especially had a lot of rumours about him back in the day

Harry Kane just became the top English goalscorer of all time, surpassing the legendary Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker, and Wayne Rooney.

Sounds like a very homosexually-coded record to break to me!!!!

Stevie G is headed back to punditry! All I wanted :) now we just need Frank back

They can all stay in the closet because 95% of them are so low intelligence. It makes me wish they were all straight. Not boyfriend material IMO.

R32 stupid men are way easier to control mentally, and they tend to be more fun and less inhibited in bed...

Sadly though that can come with a side of caveman violence. The trick is finding the himbo jocks who are also sweet people-pleasing puppy types.

R33 like these two?

R17/R20/R24 how are you this week, baby? Just checking you aren't too fizzing ;)

Maybe Sami Khedira could be closeted. I have always thought that he was already taken, but I was surprised to know that as of now, he has never married nor had kids.

R36 he was once with the winner of germany's next top model season 1

Gerrard is never beating the n0nce allegations after this weekend interviewing Jude Bellingham

Everyone here knows the 'Kevin Keegan in the Landrover with the rentboy' story, don't they? It's very old and deepest lore, but no one talks about it any more outside of Tyne & Wear, so it's being forgotten I fear.

Even Channel 4 have their eyes on Gerrard like hmmmmmmmmmm

Tattle have said before that Rio Ferdinand could be closeted bi with a hush male partner, which isn’t something I’ve heard mentioned or rumoured elsewhere.

Would have sooner said Ratnaldo, Becks or GNev from that vintage Yanited team. Not that I care, can’t stand rags, the straights can have them all.

John Terry I know what you are!!!!! (bisexual and poly)

Paulo Dybala liked Ricky Martin's Bad Bunny-Glaad post! Yaaas Kween, keep inching out!!

R37 sorry are we in a timeline where straight men no longer date models and use them as dog food?

Jurgen Klopp has sus relationships with two Peps--his assistant Pep Lijnders, and his rival Pep Guardiola.

He lived with Lijnders as roommates for the first years of his tenure in England for the Premier League, despite having a wife.

ModRamos best ship i will die on this hill

The people claiming that gay play between pro footballers is all impossible fiction clearly do not know the business or the culture. It’s endless elaborate and risky games of gay chicken, until one day it’s not and suddenly one mate is noshing off another in a VIP suite or a dressing-room shower. There may not be many Kinsey 5/6 players, but there are so many bisexuals and opportunistic curious straights who engage in same-sex play.

Also, behind closed doors heteroflexible/bi men rival lesbians for same-sex social drama, and that informs group dynamics and team chemistry more than people realise.