Legendary Real Madrid and Spanish International goalkeeper Iker Casillas has come out gay despite being in relationship with a woman for more than a decade at a point in his life.

Casillas made the shocking announcement in a tweet that reads “I hope you respect me: I’m gay. #felizdomingo” via his official Twitter account Sunday afternoon.

Suspicions arose immediately on the possibility of former Barcelona legend Carles Puyol being Casillas’ partner as Puyol responded, telling the goalkeeper “it is time to tell our story, Iker.

Fans were quick to share photos of the pairs together, who were teammates for the Spanish national team for years and were both part of the squad that won the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Casillas started dating female Spanish-Portuguese sports journalist Sara Carbonero in 2009, and the pair got married in 2016 but divorced in 2021.

The couple shared two sons together, Martín, who was born in January 2014 and Lucas, who was born in June 2016.

In recent years, more footballers are boldly coming out as homosexual, including Blackpool forward Jake Daniels who became the first active UK’s first active male professional footballer to come out publicly as gay.