Former Leeds player Robbie Rogers announces he’s gay and retires from football

Former Leeds player Robbie Rogers has announced that he will finish up playing football at just 25 years old, and has also come out as gay in a statement last night.

By Adrian Collins

Robbie Rogers is a native of Southern California, and while we might think he was insane for swapping the sunshine to move to England, he was clearly following his passion to play football for his career.

Last night, in a statement on his personal bog, Rogers admitted that he hadn't been able to live as himself due to the career he'd chosen as a footballer, but now it was time for the “next chapter”.

He also stated that he wanted to “discover himself away from football”, a field which has famously been very reticent to accept homosexuality in any form, after the tragic events surrounding the death of Justin Fashanu.

Rogers has stated that he will retire from the game, having been on loan from Leeds to Stevenage up until recently. He has also played 18 times for the US National Team in his career.

His international team mates from the United States are amongst those who have been rallying behind him on Twitter since the announcement, and praising him for his courage. Here's just a few of the samples of that support, which is great to see, including a tweet from Gary Lineker.

There's also a fantastic video from the players of the Seattle Sounders team in the US, who are all offering their support to Rogers.