Gay footballer hangs up his boots to care for child with girlfriend

Jakub Jankto and his girlfriend when he was not yet open about his sexuality

Jankto was left without a club after his two-year contract with Cagliari expired in June. He made 20 appearances in his first season with the Sardinian side, but did not make any appearances the following season.

In a post on social media, Jankto revealed that he had been struggling with an ankle injury all season, which eventually forced him to hang up his boots. Another important reason was that he wanted to return to Prague to spend more time with his son - the result of a previous relationship with Marketa Ottomanska. Currently, on Instagram, he said that he is an assistant coach of Dukla Prague's U7 team.

Jankto is a versatile player who can play as a left-back, midfielder or winger. He started his career in Italy with Udinese, before spending time on loan at Ascoli and Sampdoria. Sampdoria bought him permanently in 2019, and two years later he moved to Spain with Getafe.

In the 2022/23 season, Jankto returned to his homeland to play for Sparta Prague on loan, where he publicly came out in a video on social media. At that time, the Czech midfielder was still a member of the national team and had made 45 appearances and scored four goals.

In an interview with the BBC in 2023, Jankto - who had been separated from Ottomanska for two years at the time - said he was completely happy with his decision to come out.

Jankto is one of the very few male footballers who has come out publicly while still playing. Before him, in 2021, Josh Cavallo (Adelaide United) became the first male player in the world to come out as gay in a national championship. A year later, Jake Daniels (Blackpool) also became the only professional footballer in England to come out as openly gay.

Source: https://znews.vn/cau-thu-dong-tinh-treo-giay-de-cham-soc-con-voi-ban-gai-post1579139.html