World’s only openly gay active pro footballer is concerned for LGBTQ community ahead of Qatar 2022
For the past few months, Shammoul has been the first openly gay Muslim footballer to be active in the professional footballing field.
The 26-year-old is currently playing for Arsenal Ladies FC in the FA Women’s Super League 2.
Shammoul played for Bahraini side Al-Mokhabra SC for three years, while he began in Oman – playing for Dera’a Stars FC in the Doha League and then later for Al-Buruj SC in the Oman Professional League.
He then joined in July 2015 with Al-Buruj’s top team in the Oman Professional League – Al-Qadsia SC – winning the league title with four games left to play.
“I am now one of the first gay players in the world, the only one,” he said, and added he did not think it would be easy for him to come out to the community ahead of Qatar’s 2022 Fifa World Cup.
‘It is not easy for me to come out to the community, but after meeting some members of the community who have been supportive, I feel more confident. When I tell my friends, they are happy to listen to my story. I don’t have any shame about it. I can talk to them about the same thing,” he said.
Despite how his career looks, Shammoul, who comes from an Islamic religious family whose members follow strict Islamic norms, said he wanted to continue to represent his culture through his sport.
“I support my faith and I would like to continue doing this, even if it meant moving to Qatar,” he said.
Shammoul, who began participating in a social media campaign before the Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup began, has called for those who oppose this national event to be sent to an ‘infinitely better’ place such as a country where they do not have freedom of speech and people are killed for being gay in their own countries.
“There are countries of the world that are