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 outline a research project on media representations and the visibility/invisibility of sexual minorities in men’s soccer in Finland, drawing on the findings of studies on media coverage:

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

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

Along with broader trends toward greater recognition and visibility of LGBTQ+ individuals in various areas of life (in Europe), issues concerning sexual minorities in men’s team sports have come to the fore, particularly in gender studies and the sociology of sport (e.g., Anderson 2011, 2015; Magrath 2016, 2019, 2020; Cleland, Magrath & Kian 2018). However, the overall empirical focus 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 strong human rights record, the issue of sexual minorities in (men’s) team sports is barely emerging, at best.

The conference will provide an overview of Samu Kytölä’s broader research project on media representations and the (in)visibility of sexual minorities in men’s soccer in Finland. It will present preliminary qualitative findings from two empirical sub-studies: media coverage of (a) the issue of rainbow flags and other symbols of LGBTQ+ inclusivity in the major competitions UEFA EURO 2020 (2021) and the 2022 FIFA World Cup; (b) the coming out of male soccer players in other countries.