German retired from the game last year.
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Former Aston Villa, West Ham United and Everton midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger has revealed that he is gay, according to reports on BBC Sport Online.
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The one-time Germany international, who also represented the likes of Stuttgart, Lazio and Wolfsburg during a 12-year career at the very top of the game, made the announcement on Tuesday in an interview with Germany newspaper Die Zeit.
“I’m coming out about my homosexuality because I want to move the discussion about homosexuality among professional sportspeople forwards,” said the 31-year-old, who retired from the game last year following a brief 12-month stint with the Toffees.
“I’ve never been ashamed of the way I am,” Hitzlsperger continued, before adding: “Just picture 20 men sat around a table together drinking – you’ve just got to let the majority be, just as long as the jokes are halfway funny and the talk about homosexuality doesn’t get too insulting.”
Hitzlsperger, who won 52 caps for Germany between 2004 and 2010, is now the most prominent footballer to have come out following Leeds United and United States wide man Robbie Rodgers’s decision to reveal his homosexuality last February, while Swede Anton Hysen, son of former Liverpool captain Glenn, also confirmed that he was gay back in 2011.