Thomas Hitzlsperger has revealed in an interview that he is gay, and that he wants to bring a discussion about homosexuality to the forefront of professional sport.
The former Germany international played 52 times for his country, and also had spells at West Ham United and Everton in the Premier League.
In an interview with German magazine Zeit, the 33-year-old broached the subject of his homosexuality publicly for the first time and spoke about the issues facing gay sportsmen and women.
In the interview, conducted in German, Thomas Hitzlsperger, said:
"I want to talk about my homosexuality.
"By doing this I am hoping to bring about a discussion on homosexuality in professional sport.
"Homosexuality isn't a serious topic for discussion in England, Germany or Italy - at least not in the dressing room."
The German international claimed that the issue of homosexuality had been "simply ignored" in football, but admitted that his homosexuality is only something that he has only recently been aware of:
"It has only recently been obvious to me what I would rather live with a man."
He is one of only a handful of footballers to come out as being gay, in addition to American footballer Robbie Rogers, who retired after announcing his homosexuality, and Justin Fashanu.
Hitzlsperger said that he thought the news would largely be accepted by football fans, but that he was expecting reaction to be mixed:
"Fans are very complex - you have all ages from all walks of life in stadium. That's why you can't rule any reaction out. But I think for the vast majority it probably wouldn't be a problem
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