Premier League players

Gay footballer Collin Martin has explained why he believes no Premier League players have come out as queer.

“We don’t always know the factors for gay athletes,” he said. [PinkNews](https://www.thepinknews.com/2022/12/18/collin-martin-world-cup-qatar-fifa-lgbtq/), the American football player said his “biggest disappointment” during the Qatar 2022 World Cup was football association FIFA’s apathy on LGBTQ+ rights. Despite his self-admitted passion for the sport, Martin said that there is “more to life” than football – a realisation that helped him Martin agreed that the issues surrounding homophobia in football need to be tackled so that closeted players feel safe in coming out to the world. [Daily Express](https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1713627/Gay-footballer-explains-Premier-League-stars-coming-out-football-news) that he believes the lack of LGBTQ+ representation could be down to agents “advising” stars to stay in the closet. [YouGov poll](https://yougov.co.uk/topics/sport/articles-reports/2022/05/25/half-football-fans-say-homophobia-serious-problem-) found that half of the football fans surveyed agreed that homophobia was a serious issue.