View source for Lesbian Football/Soccer Players

[[File:soccer.jpg|200px|thumb|left]]

Out lesbians in professional football/soccer are quite prevalent and prominent in their sport.  This occurs across a broad swathe of regions and countries, and is in marked contrast to the situation in men's professional sports.  In fact, women's football had the most out players of all sports included in the 2016 Olympic Summer Games.  

The reason for this is entirely because of the culture of acceptance within the governing bodies of the sport, the teams, and among the players themselves.  This culture has been present since the organizational beginning of the sport.  This evolution is reflected in the large number of former out players who have remained in the sport and graduated to become either lesbian coaches or managers.  The most prominent of these include Germany's [[Steffi Jones]] (now with senior management at FIFA), Sweden's [[Pia Sundhage]] (former coach of the American national team), and Great Britain's [[Hope Powell]] (coach of their national team).  

The majority of these professional football/soccer athletes play not only on teams in local sports leagues, but also on national teams.  They compete in regional divisions, world cups, and the Olympic games.  Some have become household names in their home countries due to their success in representing their country.  American [[Abby Wambach]] is so popular that toy company Mattel launched a new Barbie design dedicated to her on her retirement in 2015 and after she won two Olympic gold medals, a World Cup, and was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year a record six times.  Wambach has been open about her sexual orientation throughout her life and career and married her long time partner in 2013.  

Nevertheless, lesbian football/soccer players still face considerable amounts of homophobic abuse from fans.  This is more a reflection of mob mentality than the fact that a majority of fans are homophobes.  The situation does point out the important, and often brave, role which being visible and out has in the promotion of tolerance and diversity.  It also points out the responsibility of fans to call out homophobia when they see or hear it, rather than being silent and complicit to the act.  For its part, the sports' regulatory body FIFA has imposed hefty fines on sports clubs whose fans display homophobic behaviour.  

Being an out lesbian football/soccer player has not reduced the marketability or sponsorship potential of an athlete, unlike in many other sports.  However, there remains a wide gap in compensation levels for women football/soccer players compared to men.

We have identified lesbian football/soccer players from Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Germany, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Chile, the United States, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Mexico, Spain, Scotland, and France.  Simply click on their names to read their fascinating biographies. 

'''Argentina'''

* [[Lorena Benitez]]
* [[Vanesa Santana]]

'''Australia'''

* [[Tameka Butt]]
* [[Ellie Carpenter]]
* [[Alison Forman]]
* [[Michelle Heyman]]
* [[Samantha Kerr]]
* [[Chloe Logarzo]]
* [[Teagan Micah]]
* [[Sarah Walsh]]

'''Brazil'''

* [[Barbara Barbosa]]
* [[Cristiane Rozeira]]
* [[Marta Vieira da Silva]]

'''Canada'''

* [[Kadeisha Buchanan]]
* [[Stephanie Labbe]]
* [[Erin McLeod]]
* [[Marie-Eve Nault]]
* [[Rebecca Quinn]]
* [[Kailen Sheridan]]
* [[Melissa Tancredi]]

'''Chile'''

* [[Christiane Endler]]
* [[Fernanda Pinilla]]

'''Denmark'''

* [[Pernille Harder]]

'''France'''

* [[Marinette Pichon]]

'''Germany'''

* [[Nadine Angerer]]
* [[Linda Bresonik]]
* [[Inka Grings]]
* [[Ursula Holl]]
* [[Steffi Jones]]
* [[Lea Schuller]]

'''Great Britain'''

* [[Anita Asante]]
* [[Rachel Daly]]
* [[Jess Fishlock]]
* [[Melanie Garside-Wight]]
* [[Lauren Hemp]]
* [[Bethany Mead]]
* [[Lily Parr]]
* [[Hope Powell]]
* [[Lianne Sanderson]]
* [[Jill Scott]]
* [[Demi Stokes]]
* [[Casey Stoney]]
* [[Jodie Taylor]]
* [[Andrea Worrall]]

'''Ireland'''

* [[Ruesha Littlejohn]]
* [[Katie McCabe]]

'''Japan'''

* [[Shiho Shimoyamada]]

'''Mexico'''

* [[Stephany Mayor]]
* [[Bianca Sierra]]

'''New Zealand'''

* [[Katie Duncan]]
* [[Abby Erceg]]
* [[Emma Kete]]
* [[Kirsty Yallop]]
* [[Hannah Wilkinson]]

'''Norway'''

* [[Kristin Blystad Bjerke]]
* [[Isabell Herlovsen]]
* [[Linda Medalen]]
* [[Bente Nordby]]
* [[Trine Ronning]]

'''Scotland'''

* [[Nicola Docherty]]
* [[Lisa Evans]]
* [[Shannon Lynn]]

'''South Africa'''

* [[Portia Modise]]
* [[Eudy Simelane]]
* [[Janine van Wyk]]

'''Spain'''

* [[Jenni Hermoso]]
* [[Maria Pilar Leon]]
* [[Ana Romero]]

'''Sweden'''

* [[Sandra Adolfsson]]
* [[Lisa Dahlkvist]]
* [[Magdalena Eriksson]]
* [[Nilla Fischer]]
* [[Jessica Landstrom]]
* [[Hedvig Lindahl]]
* [[Malin Levenstad]]
* [[Caroline Seger]]
* [[Pia Sundhage]]
* [[Victoria Sandell Svensson]]
* [[Lena Videkull]]

'''Switzerland'''

* [[Ramona Bachman]]

'''The Netherlands'''

* [[Anouk Dekker]]
* [[Vivianne Miedema]]
* [[Sherida Spitse]]
* [[Danielle van de Donk]]
* [[Merel van Dongen]]

'''Trinidad and Tobago'''

* [[Lauryn Hutchinson]]

'''United States'''

* [[McKenzie Berryhill]]
* [[Tierna Davidson]]
* [[Jill Ellis]]
* [[Adrianna Franch]]
* [[Ashlyn Harris]]
* [[Bianca Henninger]]
* [[Angela Hucles]]
* [[Sarah Huffman]]
* [[Natasha Kai]]
* [[Tziarra King]]
* [[Ali Krieger]]
* [[Carrie Lawrence]]
* [[Lori Lindsey]]
* [[Joanna Lohman]]
* [[Ella Masar]]
* [[Kristie Mewis]]
* [[Kelley O'Hara]]
* [[Toni Deion Pressley]]
* [[Megan Rapinoe]]
* [[Meleana Shim]]
* [[Nikki Stanton]]
* [[Abby Wambach]]
* [[Saskia Webber]]
* [[Alissa Wykes]]

'''Vietnam'''

* [[Tran Thi Thu]]

==See Also==

* [[LGBTQ Sports Management]]
* [[LGBTQ Sports Referees and Umpires]]
* [[LGBTQ Professional and Amateur Sports Coaches]]
* [[LGBTQ Tennis]]
* [[LGBTQ Cyclists]]
* [[LGBTQ Figure Skaters]]
* [[The Community of LGBTQ Boxers]]
* [[Professional LGBTQ Mixed Martial Artists]]
* [[LGBTQ Presence in the Equestrian World]]
* [[The World of LGBTQ Golf]]
* [[World Sports Champions Who Identify as LGBTQ]]
* [[LGBTQ Athletes Who Have Won Olympic Gold]]
* [[LGBTQ Track & Field]]
* [[Lesbian Professional Basketball Players and Coaches]]

==Further Reading/Research==

* http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/zela/article/2016/06/16/yes-its-true-lesbians-are-killing-football-best-kind-way

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