Portrait
Born
19 February 1961London, England
Died
2 May 1998London, England · aged 37
FootballerUnited Kingdom65th birthday

Justin Fashanu

The first professional footballer to come out as gay – a step that cost him dearly in the game he loved.

Justin Fashanu was born in London and grew up in foster care in Norfolk with his brother John, who also became a footballer. At Norwich City he became a star; his spectacular goal against Liverpool in 1980 was voted the BBC’s Goal of the Season.

In 1981 he moved to Nottingham Forest, becoming the first Black footballer in Britain to be transferred for a million pounds. But his manager Brian Clough mocked him for going to gay clubs, and his career declined. Injuries followed, and he played for many clubs in England, North America and elsewhere.

In 1990 he came out in an interview with a tabloid newspaper – the first professional footballer to do so. The reaction was hostile; his own brother publicly distanced himself from him.

In 1998, while living in the United States, he was accused of sexual assault by a 17-year-old in Maryland. Fashanu returned to London and took his own life in May 1998; in a note he said that the encounter had been consensual and that he did not expect a fair trial as a gay man. In 2020 he was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame.

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