A group of professional footballers from Germany will reportedly come out as gay next month before the final weekend of the season.
According to German outlet Preussische Allgemeine Zeitung, the players will collectively come out as gay on May 17.
The date is significant as it's also the International Day Against Homophobia.
The move is part of an initiative in Germany in an attempt to encourage players and others working in football to come out.
The group are said to be planning to come out as gay on May 17
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All clubs involved are said to have been made aware of the imminent announcement.
However, the report adds that there are still some players who have reservations about coming forward to reveal their homosexuality.
There are currently no active male footballers in Germany's professional leagues who are openly gay.
Marcus Urban came out as gay long after his career had ended and has been pushing for more exclusivity in football and for a better environment for those concerned about the response.
He's been in contact with the group of footballers who are supposedly planning to come out as gay.
"May 17th is an offer," Urban told the Editorial Network Germany (RND).
"A date that you could use as a guide and get together as a group.
"There is controversy there. 'Do I still want to wait until the world of football becomes the way I want it to be?'
The footballers are said to be in the Bundesliga
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"'Why should I wait?' An interesting dynamic has come into play, you can see that people’s minds are starting to move and are thinking about whether it really makes sense to continue to hide and deny themselves.
"There are also gay Bundesliga couples who are in hiding. That would be so liberating. What’s wrong with it?"
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Thomas Hitzlsperger is the first Premier League player to have come out as gay
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Justin Fashanu was the first professional footballer to come out as gay in England back in 1990.
But he tragically took his own life eight years later after being made to be an outcast.
There has never been a player to play in the English Premier League while openly gay.
