17-year-old soccer player comes out, becoming the UK's only openly gay professional footballer

• Jake Daniels, 17, came out as gay on Monday.
• The Blackpool FC forward is now the only openly gay, active professional soccer player in the UK.
• The last active professional UK soccer player to come out was Justin Fashanu in 1990.

Jake Daniels, a forward for England's Blackpool Football Club, came out as gay on Monday, becoming the UK's only active professional soccer player and first to come out in 30 years.

"This season has been a fantastic one for me on the pitch ... But off the pitch I've been hiding the real me and who I really am," the 17-year-old said in a Monday statement released by his team. "I've known my whole life that I'm gay, and I now feel that I'm ready to come out and be myself."

"It's a step into the unknown being one of the first footballers in this country to reveal my sexuality, but I've been inspired by Josh Cavallo, Matt Morton and athletes from other sports, like Tom Daley, to have the courage and determination to drive change," he said.

Cavallo is an active Australian soccer player who came out in 2021, and Morton, a regional English soccer player, came out in 2020. Daley, a diver who has represented the UK in several Olympics games, came out in 2013.

Blackpool FC plays in the English Football League Championship, the second tier of the country's football league system after the Premier League.

When asked by Sky News whether he had felt the need to hide his sexuality while playing soccer professionally, Daniels said he thought that "because there was no one out that I do need to hide it and wait until I retired to maybe come out."

"But I just knew that that's such a long time of lying and not being able to have what I want," he added.

Daniels is also the first active professional English soccer player to come out in 30 years. Justin Fashanu, who previously played for Manchester City and West Ham United, came out in 1990. Fashanu died in 1998 aged 37.

Last year, the defensive end Carl Nassib came out as gay, becoming the first openly gay man to actively play in the NFL.