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14th October 2022
09:17am BST
To date, Jake Daniels of Championship side Blackpool and Australian Josh Cavallo of Adelaide United are the highest-profile players to have come out as LGBT.
Asked why more had not followed, Lineker said: “Fear. Fear of the unknown, I imagine. Perhaps they are worried what their team-mates might think, although they probably already know.
“It seems insane that it should even be a thing.
“People say, ‘Yeah, but the crowds.” And I say, ‘Well the crowds chant anyway’. You’re always going to get a few idiots.
“But it’s easy for me to say as I’m not in that position.”
Lineker had hoped Cavallo and Daniels would prompt other players to come out, and suggested the first Premier League player to do so would make themselves more marketable.
“I was hoping, because there are lots of players that are having to live a lie,” he said. “I’m sure it’s very difficult.
“But I think what we’ve seen so far is that the feedback and the response, it will be incredibly positive.
“If I were an agent of a big footballer, if I knew one of my players was gay, if he was a top player, I’d say, ‘Be the first big player’. I mean, as an agent, thinking in terms of promotion and stuff, you’re going to be huge.”
Lineker said he turned down the opportunity to host April’s World Cup draw, saying he did not want to do it given his record of criticising corruption around the awarding of the tournament.
“It’s a different FIFA now,” he said. “But I felt, rather than where I said I’m there to report on the World Cup rather than support it, doing the draw for FIFA would be supporting the World Cup and supporting the decision.”
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