By Nick Harris 6 December 2010 An anti-homophobia group that campaigns for equality in football has criticised the decision of Fifa’s executive committee to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a nation where homosexuality is a crime that can carry a five-year prison term. That sanction is not theoretical – Qatar has had cases […]

By Nick Harris                                            26 March 2016 Goodbye to The Independent as a newspaper, published on paper for the final time on Saturday. It’s been inevitable for some time. It won’t be the last paper […]

* Robbie Rogers, now a former footballer, played more than 100 games in MLS for Columbus Crew before moving to England, with Leeds. The 25-year-old Californian, who also played 18 times for the USA, came out last week in a blog in which he also announced his retirement. Ian Herbert says Rogers’ declaration that he […]

By Nick Harris SJA Internet Sports Writer of the Year 22 August 2012 There were 23 openly gay athletes across all sports at the London 2012 Olympic Games according to observers who monitor such trends closely, notably Outsports.com. Ten of them won medals (43 per cent) and seven of them won gold medals (30.4 per […]

By Alex Miller 20 March 2011 The former Liverpool and Sweden defender Glenn Hysen has revealed his pride at the decision by his 20 year-old son, Anton, to become the first professional Swedish footballer to come out as gay – and how he hopes it might contribute to gay Premier League players feeling comfortable enough […]

By Nick Harris 17 November 2010 Football’s European governing body Uefa has open disciplinary proceedings against Vlatko Markovic, the president of the Croatian Football Federation who caused outrage with a recent interview saying no gay players would represent his country during his reign. Uefa will examine whether Markovic was guilty of making the homophobic comments as […]

By Nick Harris 11 November 2010 Vlatko Markovic, the president of the Croatian Football Federation who caused outrage with a recent interview saying no gay players would represent his country during his reign, has marred a subsequently apology by swearing in public at reporters asking him about his apparent discrimination. In an interview published last […]

By Nick Harris 10 August 2010 Researchers at Staffordshire University studying the extent to which homophobia is common within football have found that two-thirds of fans believe the environment surrounding the game will be liberal enough to allow a gay pro to come out “over the next two to five years”. At one level this […]

EXCLUSIVE By Nick Harris and Hugh Godwin 20 December 2009 Britain’s foremost PR advisor, Max Clifford, toldThe Independent on Sunday last night that he has represented two high-profile gay Premier League footballers in the past five years and has advised them to stay in the closet because football “remains in the dark ages, steeped in […]