Last Sunday, the Cadiz Football Club organized a commitment event for feminism and LGBTI+ rights in its stadium. Just before the last match of the year 2025 at Nuevo Mirandilla, which pitted the Cádiz team against Castellón (2-0 victory for the Andalusians on the 19th day of the Second in a duel between direct contenders for first place), we celebrated the success of Tolerance stage. This initiative began in August and during the matches that Cádiz CF played at home throughout the season, several Purple and Rainbow Points were installed, in which rights entities were able to interact with supporters, distribute informative materials and make visible their work against machismo, gender violence, racism or lgtbiphobia.
On Sunday, the club announced the permanent establishment of these points in its stadium – at the southern end of the ground – where sexist and lgtbiphobic acts observed within the sports grounds can now also be reported. The drivers of Tolerance stage These are the Cádiz CF Foundation and the Iberian Sports Group (ADI), which brings together LGTBI+ sports entities from Spain and Portugal, and of which the Cádiz Foundation is a part. “Cádiz CF has made its stadium the first space in Spanish professional football to have these tools to prevent violence and discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation,” celebrated the promoters of the measure.
While in women’s football there are powerful lesbian references, such as Alexia Putellas or Jennifer Hermoso, in the men’s sector the low LGTBI+ visibility stands out. In 2023, Jakub Jankto became the first visible active player in the Spanish League, then owned by Getafe and then loaned to Sparta Prague. He did so with a message on his social networks: “I am homosexual and I no longer want to hide.” There are other cases in Spanish football, such as that of Alberto Lejárraga Rubio (goalkeeper of UD San Sebastián de los Reyes, in 1st RFEF) who openly spoke about his homosexuality. His visibility has been highly praised, but also attacked, particularly on his profiles on social networks. “Devoting myself to football took me too far from being able to talk about my sexual orientation,” he said.
In April 2016, then-referee Jesús Tomillero also spoke publicly about his homosexuality. He was 21 and received so much hate that a month after the announcement he decided to stop refereeing and create Roja Directa, which fights against lgtbiphobia in football. It is precisely this organization that has distinguished Cádiz CF for its leadership in promoting safe, inclusive and respectful sport.
“The main objectives of Tolerance stage “It is about raising awareness among Cádiz supporters and society in general about the social problems linked to hate crimes,” detailed the Cádiz CF Foundation and ADI. In addition to encouraging the participation of spectators at the Nuevo Mirandilla stadium in social causes, the initiative “seeks to provide visibility to entities that work for inclusion and the defense of human rights, using the power of football as a tool for social transformation.”
“Football needs to catch up on many things and one of them is LGTBI+ visibility,” says Víctor Gutiérrez, a visible athlete who played as a professional water polo player. The socialist deputy and secretary of LGTBI+ policies of the PSOE considers that gestures in favor of diversity are “very important”. This is how he appreciates FIFA’s proposal to convert one of the matches of the 2026 World Cup, which will take place next summer in the United States, Mexico and Canada, into a Pride match.
The match, which will be held in Seattle, will be – as fate would have it after the draw for the group stage of the championship – the one between Egypt and Iran. Both countries persecute homosexuality and have expressed opposition to the event which seeks to celebrate and defend LGTBI+ rights. Despite the complaints, FIFA is sticking with its plans for the moment. “When we talk about LGTBI+ rights, we talk about human rights,” remembers Gutiérrez.
This same week, the Cadiz CF Foundation was rewarded with the recognition of LGBTIphobia Free Space, granted by the Government of Andalusia, “for its positioning as a social agent committed to human rights, coexistence and the construction of safe and inclusive communities”. This distinction, granted by the Ministry of Social Inclusion, Youth, Family and Equality, makes visible the Andalusian environments that function as spaces of security, full equality, respect and freedom for LGTBI+ people.
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