Football: St. Pauli coach comes out as gay, criticizes game

An under-19 football coach at German Bundesliga club FC St. Pauli publicly came out as gay this week and used the opportunity to criticize attitudes towards homosexuality in the game.

Christian Dobrick, 29, told German broadcaster RTL and news magazine Stern on Tuesday that gay men are "still treated like extraterrestrials" in professional men's football.

He said he suspected that, while he's certain he's not the only one, there are probably fewer gay men in the professional game than in the general population.

"The pressure to lead a hetero-normative life is so big that fewer gay footballers make it to the top because they have to use up their energy on problems which have nothing to do with sport," he said.

Despite campaigns from federations, clubs, fan groups and sports media to encourage tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality, no active professional in Germany's top three men's leagues has ever come out as gay during their career.

The situation is very different in women's football, where sexual orientation has never been such a taboo topic.

Bundesliga: Homophobia in men's football

Dobrick joined St. Pauli, a club based in Hamburg, in summer 2025 after coaching youth teams at TSG Hoffenheim and Holstein Kiel. According to him, the vocabulary used in and around men's football has contributed to a general, subconscious homophobia in the game.

"If a player complains about too much physicality, he's quickly labeled a puff," he said. "It's hard to get rid of these insults and the warped image of gay men that they construe."

Therefore, Dobrick kept his sexual orientation a secret for fear of damaging his chances of one day coaching at the first-team level — perhaps even in the Bundesliga.

"For a long time, I was uncertain whether I would be harming my career prospects by coming out," he said — and he still is. "But this game of hide-and-seek was costing me too much strength."

Dobrick's announcement was made independently of his employer, FC St. Pauli, which is well-known for its tolerant stance and political activism in football. Rainbow flags are a common sight in the stands at the Millerntor stadium in Hamburg, and the captain wears a rainbow-colored armband on the pitch.

Unsurprisingly, club president Oke Göttlich said the club stands fully behind its under-19 coach. "It's simple and it applies to everyone: love whoever you want!" he said.

How Jürgen Klopp influenced Dobrick's decision

Dobrick said an encounter with legendary former Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool head coach Jürgen Klopp helped him make the decision.

"As a coach, you can be whoever you want, but you have to stand for something, you have to be yourself," Klopp reportedly said at an event with young coaches in Salzburg — where the 58-year-old currently works as Global Head of Soccer for the energy drink brand Red Bull.

For Dobrick, the message became a work-life motto, and he urged other gay players to "take the plunge into the cold water and swim!"

While no active male player has yet come out in German football, there are openly gay officials in the game, such as VfB Stuttgart chief executive Alexander Wehrle. His predecessor, former Germany international Thomas Hitzlsperger, became the first and most prominent German ex-player to come out in January 2014.

Following his coming-out, Dobrick took to Instagram to thank colleagues and followers. "The same coach as I was yesterday," he said. "Now, full focus on the weekend against Dresden!"

Edited by: Wesley Dockery