“I asked myself the question and my answer was that they can’t kill my passion: I still love football,” Thomas Hitzlsperger says, but he knows they have tried. It is nine years since he became the first Premier League footballer to reveal he is gay, a decision that improved his life and those of others too. “Even today,” he says, “someone came up to me and said: ‘Are you who I think you are?’ I said: ‘Probably.’ He put his thumbs up, said: ‘Good on you.’
“And that’s so powerful, which is why I say to others: it’s not just your personal situation, which is of course the most important thing. And that’s why I don’t stop speaking up. Now when I reflect, my decision was all about what impact I can have on society, without overdoing it.
