Brave gay footballer Josh Cavallo "scared" to play at Qatar World Cup in 2022
Australian left-back Josh Cavallo has revealed he is “very scared” of playing at the Qatar World Cup after coming out as gay.
Cavallo became the world’s first top-flight footballer to come out when he posted an emotional video last month after being “tired of hiding” who he was.
The 21-year-old A-League defender openly received support from the world’s biggest football clubs and numerous sports stars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
But Cavallo has gone on to say he is afraid for his safety when looking forward to potentially being selected for the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar, due to the country’s alleged human rights offences against gay people.
Speaking on the Guardian's Today in Focus podcast, Cavallo said: "I read something along the lines of that [they] give the death penalty for gay people in Qatar, so it's something I'm very scared [of] and wouldn't really want to go to Qatar for that.
"And that saddens me.
"At the end of the day the World Cup is in Qatar and one of the greatest achievements as a professional footballer is to play for your country, and to know that this is in a country that doesn't support gay people and puts us at risk of our own life.
“That does scare me and makes me re-evaluate – is my life more important than doing something really good in my career?”
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Cavallo is yet to be called up to the Australian national team but the youngster has previously represented his country at under-20s level.
Qatar, located in the middle-east, is known for its intolerance of homosexuality and punishing gay people with prison time.
Meanwhile, Cavallo stated only last month that he only wished to be “treated equally.”
He said: "All I want to do is play football and be treated equally.
"I'm tired of trying to perform at the best of your ability and to live this double life, it's exhausting."
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