SOCCER
Most football fans comfortable with gay players
Survey shows there’s overwhelming support for homosexual players, but not in the Middle East
London — More than three-quarters of football fans across the globe would have no problem if a player in their national team came out as gay or bisexual, a poll showed on Wednesday. Conducted by fan opinion platform Forza Football and campaign group Stonewall, the survey asked more than 50,000 supporters in 38 countries about their attitudes towards inclusion and homophobia. Equal rights campaigners hope the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the following tournament in Qatar in 2022 will be a chance to raise the issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) rights in the two countries. Overall, 76% of respondents said they would be comfortable with a player from their national team coming out as gay or bisexual, with nearly nine of 10 fans in Iceland and Ireland expressing this view. At the other end of the spectrum, in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, only about one in 10 feel the same way. The figure for Russia is nearly one in two, but just 14% of fans in Qatar said they would be h...
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