Jakub Jankto (; born 19 January 1996) is a Czech professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays for

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

, and the Czech Republic national team. A versatile player, Jankto can play as a full-back,

left midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. Jankto came out as gay in a social media post in 2023, making him the first active male international footballer to come out as gay.

Club career

Jankto signed for Udinese from

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in t ...

in 2014 for a reported fee of €700,000. Without making his league debut for the team, he went on loan to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

side Ascoli in 2015, debuting on 15 September in a

1–0 home win against Virtus Entella. On 6 July 2018, Sampdoria announced that Jankto had joined the club on an initial loan deal with an obligation to make the transfer permanent for €15 million. On 12 August 2018, Jankto scored on his debut for Sampdoria in a 1–0

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

win against Viterbese. Sampdoria later made the transfer permanent. On 20 August 2021, Jankto signed a two-year contract with

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

. The following year on 10 August, he returned to his homeland after joining

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

on a one-year loan deal. On 15 July 2023, Jankto signed a two-year contract with option with

club

. Jankto made his debut with Cagliari on 21 August 2023 in a goalless draw against Torino FC. On 3 March 2024, Jankto scored his first goal for Cagliari in a 1-0 victory against Empoli FC.

International career

In March 2017, Jankto received his first call-up by coach Karel Jarolím to the Czech senior squad for two matches against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

(friendly) and

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

(

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia national football team, Rus ...

). The same year on 22 March, he debuted against the former opponent with his first goal that ended in a 3-0 victory.

Personal life

Jankto was in a relationship with model Markéta Ottomanská and had a son. They separated in 2021. On 13 February 2023, Jankto publicly came out as gay in a

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

statement, becoming the first active senior international men's footballer to do so. Jankto's move received support from football clubs, footballers and other athletes. On 18 April 2023, Jankto was stopped by police near the Sparta Prague Strahov training center. He submitted to a

breath test A breath test is a type of test performed on air generated from the act of exhalation. Types include: *Breathalyzer – by far the most common usage of this term relates to the legal breath test to determine if a person is driving under the inf ...

behind the wheel of his vehicle, but refused to take a

drug test A drug test (also often toxicology screen or tox screen) is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or saliva, oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent ...

and a medical examination. He also drove without a driver's licence, which had been taken away by the authorities earlier in 2023. In response, club management initiated a meeting with Jankto, and it was decided that he will not participate in training sessions with the First Team.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Czech Republic's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jankto goal.''

Honours

Club

Sparta Prague *

Czech First League The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from A ...

: 2022–23

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jankto, Jakub 1996 births Living people Footballers from Prague Czech men's footballers Czech Republic men's youth international footballers Czech Republic men's under-21 international footballers Czech Republic men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders SK Slavia Prague players Udinese Calcio players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players UC Sampdoria players Getafe CF footballers AC Sparta Prague players Cagliari Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players UEFA Euro 2020 players Czech expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Czech expatriate sportspeople in Italy Czech expatriate sportspeople in Spain Gay sportsmen Czech gay men Czech LGBTQ sportspeople 21st-century Czech LGBTQ people Czech LGBTQ footballers 21st-century Czech sportsmen