Fan attitudes towards sexual minorities in German men’s football

Research Question: This article investigates German football fans’ attitudes towards homosexuality. By applying Anderson’s (2009) Inclusive Masculinity Theory (IMT) to the findings, this research is the first-ever to apply it to a German sporting context. Methods: Drawing on an anonymous online survey with 212 Germans football fans, this article is the first to empirically investigate attitudes towards homosexuality in German football. Findings: Contrary to ongoing claims that German football remains hostile to sexual minorities, 95% of respondents were supportive of same-sex social and legal rights, while 81% espoused support for an ‘out’ gay male professional player. Despite this, however, 90% also believed that homophobia was still a major problem in German football, as evidenced by its hypermasculine environment, lack of out players and the prominence of homosexually themed language. Implications: This research is a valuable addition to existing work on sports fandom. It provides further evidence that narratives regarding sport’s intolerance of homosexuality are outdated. The research extends IMT’s focus beyond the UK, US, Australia, and a small number of other European countries and is the first empirical study to apply IMT to German sport. Findings are more progressive than other research on German sport and confirm that German football has become more acceptant of the idea of inclusive masculinities. While the presence of this language has previously been argued as evidence of pure, undiluted homophobia this research highlights the complexity of this language, and supports calls to recognise intent, context, and effect in the utility of homosexually themed language.