Australian soccer star Andy Brennan has become the first former A-League player to come out as gay.

Brennan took to Instagram yesterday to share his truth with his fans.

“It’s taken me years to get comfortable saying this - I’m gay,” he wrote, alongside a photo of himself playing soccer. “I was scared it would affect my friendships, my teammates, and my family.”

“But the support of the people around me has been so great and helped me get to the final step; being completely open. Being open is the best way for me to feel most comfortable and be myself. So…carry on!”

The former Newcastle Jets player was in a relationship with a woman last summer, and told the Herald Sun that he didn’t start coming out to anyone until last November, when he told a friend.

“It got to the point where I couldn’t waste any more time being in relationships that I wasn’t comfortable in and wouldn’t come to anything,” he said.

He went on to share how he had fully pushed aside all thoughts of being gay, focusing instead on his sport and career over the years. But that no longer became maintainable.

“You’ve got to go through stages to understand that you can’t keep living this, I suppose, lie to yourself that one day you’re going to be happy if you want a family.”

Now that he’s out, Brennan says he hasn’t felt uncomfortable around his new teammates at all, and can just go back to focusing on soccer without using it as a crutch to avoid dealing with being gay.

“The reason I wanted to do this in the first place was to make me feel comfortable,” he said.

“If there’s people out who’ve had that burden, especially playing sport and feel like they can’t be who they are in a professional or amateur environment, it’s vital they see others accepted.”