Meet Jake Daniels, the first English pro footballer to come out as gay in 32 years: inspired by Tom Daley, the 17-year-old has won praise from Prince William, Jack Grealish and fans alike

May 27 , 2022

Fellow footballers and fans alike hope that Jake Daniels’ brave move of coming out as gay will finally pave the way for others. Photo: @sportsmedialgbt/Instagram

It may be 2022, but openly gay footballers remain rare in UK professional football – the last man to do so, Justin Fashanu, suffered an intense backlash back in 1990

Now young Blackpool FC player Daniels has decided to follow the lead of fellow athletes Daley and Josh Cavallo – and the response has been overwhelmingly positive

Currently at the top of his game and with a bright future ahead of him, 17-year-old English footballer Jake Daniels of Blackpool FC has come out as gay. And while that may not be notable for some in 2022, such an announcement is rare in the world of professional football, with little to no openly gay players active on the field.

Jake Daniels poses in a Be Proud T-shirt on Instagram after coming out as gay. Photo: @officialjakedaniels/Instagram

But the landscape seems to be changing – and for the better. For the young athlete, his journey as a football professional and as an inspiration for the gay community has just begun.

Here’s what you need to know about him and his journey so far.

Early start

Jake Daniels is a highly promising footballer, having scored 30 goals this season for his club Blackpool. Photo: @officialjakedaniels/Instagram

Daniels fell in love with football almost as soon as he could walk and began playing for Blackpool’s youth team at age seven, according British media. He began his professional career with the Lancashire-based Blackpool FC in the under-19s this February and has already netted a whopping 30 goals for the team this season. He was also named youth team player for the club in 2020-21.

Coming out to the world in a Sky Sports interview, Daniels recalls already knowing that he was gay at maybe five or six years old.

“At that age, you don’t really think that football and being gay doesn’t mix. So all the way through my life I was like ‘yeah it’s fine, you’ll get a girlfriend when you’re older and you’ll change and it’ll be fine, and then as you do get older you realise you just can’t,” he said.

Realising his preference wasn’t something that he could just change, Daniels considered coming out after retirement instead. But he also knew that not speaking out would be “such a long time of just lying and not being able to have what I want”.