West Ham United winger Matt Jarvis hopes a gay footballer soon comes out.

Jarvis has followed the leads of David Beckham and Freddie Ljungberg to become only the third footballer to feature on the cover of the UK's bestselling gay magazine, Attitude, and is confident that homophobia would not be a significant problem.

"It's everyday life," said Jarvis, who is married. "It's not something that's going to be a shock.

"I'm sure there are many footballers who are gay, but when they decide to actually come out and say it, it is a different story. It's one that I'm sure they've thought about many times. But it's a hard thing for them to do."