Iker Casillas and homophobia in football

Spanish player has been accused of ‘flippancy’ after joking about being gay

Iker Casillas
The goalkeeper tweeted in Spanish: ‘I hope you respect me: I’m gay’
(Image credit: 2013 AFP)

Anti-gay prejudice in football is back in the spotlight after former Real Madrid and Spain player Iker Casillas said he had been hacked after tweeting that he was gay.

The episode began when the goalkeeper tweeted in Spanish: “I hope you respect me: I’m gay,” and his former Spain team-mate Carles Puyol replied: “It’s time to tell our story.”

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.