Without intending to, German national team player Laura Freigang revealed that she lives with a woman. “What happened publicly—that I have a girlfriend—was a mistake. I actually meant to keep the video private for myself and uploaded it by accident,” said the 27-year-old Eintracht Frankfurt striker in an interview with Tagesspiegel (paywalled).
The eight-second clip Freigang posted on TikTok came after the European Championship, captured during her August vacation. The video showed her spending time with her life partner on holiday (TheColu.mn reported).
Nevertheless, such a coming-out was the best path, “because I anyway didn’t want to hide anything,” said Freigang, the bronze medalist at the 2024 Olympics and runner-up at the 2023 European Championship. “Still, I didn’t really want to have to come out, because it isn’t a fact that deserves a statement. We live in times where that unfortunately isn’t normal yet.”
@lfreigang original sound – jennawill
TikTok / laurafreigang | Laura Freigang spoke on TikTok about “my gf” (my girlfriend)
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“Coming out, however, is the opposite of what I want for my life,” Freigang said. She was surprised that it was seen as so interesting, the 42-cap national team player added. “When you go public with something like this to drive positive change and to encourage people to open up about the topic, it’s a beautiful thing.”
During the July European Championship, Freigang appeared three times for the German national team but didn’t manage a goal. Germany were eliminated in the semifinals by Spain. On the squad were two other openly queer players: goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, who is dating English international and later European champion Jess Carter, and Bayern Munich forward Lea Schüller.
