Czech international Jakub Jankto has bravely revealed his sexuality by publicly coming out as gay.
The midfielder, who is currently on loan at Sparta Prague in his homeland, made his announcement via social media.
During his powerful video, Jankto said that he wanted to “live life in freedom, without fears”.
“Hi, I’m Jakub Jankto,” started the clip. “Like everybody else, I have my strengths, I have weaknesses. I have a family; I have my friends.
“I have a job, which I have been doing as best as I can for years – with seriousness, professionalism, and passion.
“Like everybody else, I also want to live my life in freedom, without fears, without prejudice, without violence. But with love. I am homosexual, and I no longer want to hide myself.”
As an international footballer with over 40 caps for his country, Jankto is one of the highest-profile men’s footballers to come out. He joins Adelaide United’s Josh Cavallo and Blackpool’s Jake Daniels as an active player who has come out as gay.
In addition, his courage sees him become the first La Liga player to reveal their sexuality. Jankto is a Getafe player, however, is on loan at Sparta.
His current team released a short statement following the midfielder’s announcement.
Sparta Prague make statement as Jakub Jankto comes out
The Czech club rightfully gave their support to their on-loan star in a short but sweet message.
“Jakub spoke about his sexual orientation with the club some time ago,” said the club, via ESPN. “Everything else concerns his personal life. No further comments. No more questions.
“You have our support. Live your life, Jacob. Nothing else matters.”
On social media, the official English account for Sparta retweeted Jankto’s video. Alongside this, they tweeted the opening verses of “Nothing else matters”, a song by the legendary rock band, Metallica.
Jankto will look to help Sparta as they attempt to win the Czech Fortuna Liga for the first time in nine years.
Jankto’s career so far
The Czech Republic midfielder actually began his professional career at Serie A side Udinese. His four-year stay there included a loan spell at Ascoli in 2015/16, where he earned regular playing time.
Following this, Jankto joined Sampdoria in July 2018. His first season there was on loan, before Sampdoria bought him permanently in 2019.
After three seasons in Genoa, the versatile midfielder swapped Italy for Spain and joined Getafe. Jankto made 15 appearances in his first season at Getafe but failed to score.
He thus joined Sparta on loan for this campaign, where he has scored once from ten appearances.
Featured image credit: Getty
