Gay soccer stars tie the knot in series of wedding for Pride Month
Already in Pride Month, we’ve witnessed a quartet of soccer weddings with some of the best women’s soccer players on the planet. The post Gay soccer stars tie the knot in series of wedding for Pride Month appeared first on Outsports.
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Wedding season is here, and fittingly for Pride Month, fans of women’s soccer are already getting to share in a series of stunning nuptial celebrations featuring their favorite players.
On the first Saturday in June, England and Tottenham Hotspur striker Bethany England married former Wales midfielder Steph Williams at a beautiful venue in the rural Cotswolds.
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England’s close friends and teammates Jess Carter and Sophie Ingle were among her bridesmaids, with several other club and country colleagues in attendance.
Tying the knot on the same weekend, but in the south of France, were two current international footballers — Australia’s Ellie Carpenter and the Netherlands’ Danielle van de Donk.
The Château Hermitage de Combas, near the town of Beziers, hosted a truly glamorous occasion, with coverage in Vogue Australia.
Right-back Carpenter moved to play her club soccer at Lyon in 2020, with Van de Donk signing for the team a year later.
Carpenter told the magazine: “We’d known of each other before, just from playing internationally and being in the same circles, but it wasn’t until she joined the team that we really connected.
“From the start, there was just this natural chemistry, both on and off the pitch. It all felt really easy and genuine.”
The following weekend, it was the turn of one of Carpenter’s Matildas teammates to also say, “I do.”
Katrina Gorry, the West Ham midfielder, met Clara Markstedt three years ago when they were both playing at Swedish club Vittsjo GIK.
Gorry had given birth to a daughter, Harper, through IVF in 2021, having made the decision to become a solo parent.
She returned to playing and made the squad for the FIFA Women’s Cup 2023 tournament hosts, involving Harper in post-match celebrations during the Matildas’ run to the semifinals, to the great delight of players and fans.
Last year, Gorry and Markstedt welcomed their first child together, a boy named Koby.
The venue for the couple’s wedding was Hamilton Island, just off the coast of Queensland, with Harper as flower girl.
Gorry told New Idea: “When Clara and I were up here in 2022, we joked we’d get married here. But now it’s all come to life… It’s incredibly special.”
Gorry and Matildas vice-captain Carpenter were both granted personal leave to miss the team’s recent two-match international friendly series against Argentina.
They were among at least 12 LGBTQ players in the squad at last summer’s Olympics, having also been teammates at the World Cup.
In both instances, Australia had the greatest number of publicly out players, earning them the affectionate tag of “world’s gayest team”.
Finally, in the world of women’s soccer weddings — at least for now — Alba Redondo married sports scientist Cristina Monleon near Albacete, with breathtaking photos reminiscent of the idyllic Elvish realm of Lothlorien in the “Lord of the Rings” movies.
Real Madrid forward Redondo was one of the stars of Spain’s 2023 World Cup win and has been named in the squad for the UEFA Women’s Euros tournament, which gets under way in Switzerland on July 2.
Being the reigning world champions and ranked second in the world behind the U.S., Spain are favorites with the bookies to lift the continental trophy in Basel on July 27.
At the time of writing, nine of the 16 squads have been announced, with out LGBTQ stars including Alexia Putellas (Spain), Lauren Hemp (England), Ann-Katrin Berger (Germany) and Guro Reiten (Norway) confirmed by their respective national associations.
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The post Gay soccer stars tie the knot in series of wedding for Pride Month appeared first on Outsports.
