Josh Cavallo: "I'm a footballer and I'm gay," Australian footballer accepts his sexuality

Josh Cavallo is an Australian professional footballer who plays for Adelaide United. He also represented the Australian under 20 team.

The Adelaide midfielder has certainly come out with his sexuality and said he no longer wants to keep it a secret. "I'm a footballer and I'm gay," Josh posted on social media, with supportive comments from his team, the A-League, and Football Australia. "All I want to do is play football and be treated equally," he added.

Josh wrote on social media that he was "ready to speak about something personal that I'm finally comfortable to talk about in my life".

"I'm a footballer and I'm gay," the midfielder said in an attached video.

"All I want to do is play football and be treated equally."

'Fighting with my sexuality'

Josh further added that he was tired of trying to perform at his best "and to live this double life, it's exhausting".

"It's been a journey to get to this point in my life, but I couldn't be happier with my decision to come out."

"I have been fighting with my sexuality for six years now, and I'm glad I can put that to rest."

Josh says his mental health was affected and he was "going into dark places".

"At the end of the day, I just wanted to be happy. This is bigger than football, it's my life. I'd go home and I wasn't happy," he told the BBC's Newshour program.

"It just slowly eats away at you and it's not something I wish upon anyone."

His thoughts were "people would think of me differently when they found out".

"They would start saying bad things about me or making fun of me. That's not the case. If anything you would earn more respect from people."

Tweets from other footballers in support of Josh

Zlatan Ibrahimovic tweeting: "You are a champion. Football is for everyone. Big respect."

Antoine Griezmann, Marcus Rashford, Raphael Varane, Gerard Pique, and David de Gea all tweeted their support.

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson on Twitter said "Huge respect to Josh for doing this"

Josh Cavallo has been praised all over the football world as major clubs all come in support of him opening up about his sexuality. Famous American talk show host Ellen DeGeneres said "I'm sending him a whole lot of love today."

Long way to go

The first player that ever opened up about his sexuality was Justin Fashanu in 1990. But he never found acceptance in the game and hanged himself in 1998.

A charity set up by Fashanu's family last year released a letter from an unnamed gay player. The letter described highlighted how little football's culture had changed.

Josh Cavallo said his situation was "an absolute nightmare", He added, "I feel trapped and I fear that disclosing the truth about what I am will only make things worse."

"As the game of football keeps expanding, I want to help evolve the game even further and let other players in my situation feel that they're not alone," Josh said.

Josh Cavallo has been getting immense support from his teammates in Adelaide United and also from the staff of the club.