Carles Puyol apologies for role in Iker Casillas tweet controversy

On Sunday, former Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas was at the centre of a Twitter storm, which also centred around ex-Barcelona cenrte-back Carles Puyol.

The account @IkerCasillas, run by the former Real Madrid and Porto goalkeeper, tweeted just after 2pm Spanish time on Sunday: “I hope everyone respects me: I’m gay”, followed by the hashtag #felizdomingo, which translates to #happysunday.

It was originally understood that Casillas had written the message as a result of his unhappiness at being linked to a number of different women in the media. However, after the tweet had been deleted, the former Spain captain claimed that his account had been hacked and in a later post on the social media platform apologised to the LGBT+ community, who threw widespread criticism in his direction.

“Hi, Iker. If this is a joke, then you should delete the tweet and apologise. The first footballer to come out committed suicide because of the abuse and mocking he received. I thought you were a role model who set a good example,” tweeted Santi Rivero, LGBTI and Diversity secretary for PSOE, the political party currently in government in Spain.

“Today’s Twitter episode involving Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol has been hugely dispiriting for LGBTQ+ people and allies. The flippancy of the tweets and weak backtrack plays into the hands of homophobes. The haste from various media outlets to publish content was also poor,” wrote Sports Media LGBTQ+.

They continued, “We’ve seen in recent months how famous players can be great allies, using the power of social media platforms to send supportive messages. As the men’s FIFA World Cup approaches, football needs voices of inclusion. We urge them to speak up again.”

In response to the deleted tweet, Casillas’ former international teammate Puyol wrote, “Now is the time to tell everyone about us,” but later apologised for his role in the controversial conversation.

“I made a mistake. I’m sorry for making a stupid joke that didn’t have any bad intentions but was totally inappropriate. I understand how it might have hurt people’s feelings. I have complete respect for the LBTIQA+ community.”

Although there a fairly large number of known gay female professional footballers, very few male players, past or present, have chosen to come out publicly, with former Germany international Thomas Hitzlsperger, who played in the Premier League for Aston Villa and Everton, and ex-USMNT player Robbie Rodgers among the highest-profile to do so.