Sexual minorities in men's soccer in Finland and in the Finnish media: representations of LGBTQ+ pride in sports media

This lecture by Prof. Samu Kytölä (University of Jyväskylä, Finland) will present the main points of a research project on media representations and the visibility/invisibility of sexual minorities in men's soccer in Finland, based on the results of studies on media coverage:

• the use of the rainbow flag and other LGBTQ+ inclusion symbols during EURO 2020 and the 2022 World Cup;
• football players coming out.

Public lecture aimed at students at the University of Montpellier, and more broadly at stakeholders in the world of sport and physical education.

Along with the more general trends of improved LGBTQ+ recognition and visibility in different domains of life (in Europe), issues of sexual minorities in men’s team sports have emerged in especially gender studies and the sociology of sports (e.g. Anderson 2011, 2015; Magrath 2016, 2019, 2020; Cleland, Magrath & Kian 2018). However, the overall empirical bias in this field has been on Anglo-American countries, particularly the UK. In Finland, often considered a socially liberal Nordic welfare state with a relatively developed human rights situation, the issue of sexual minorities in (men's) team sports is barely emerging at best.

The conference will present an outline of Samu Kytölä's larger research project on media representations and the (in)visibility of sexual minorities in men's soccer in Finland. It will present early qualitative findings from two empirical sub-studies: the media coverage of (a) the issue of Rainbow Flags and other emblems of LGBTQ+ inclusivity in the major competitions UEFA 2020 (2021) EURO and FIFA 2022 World Cup; (b) the coming-out of male footballers in other countries.