Markovic told both the Croatian daily Vecernji list and the Serbian tabloid Vecernje novosti: "As long as I'm president [of the football federation] there will be no gay players. Thank goodness only healthy people play football."
The 73-year-old, who is campaigning for a fourth term as federation president, later said he had been misunderstood and apologised. The Croatian gay rights groups Kontra and Iskorak have called for Markovic to prove the sincerity of his remorse by raising the rainbow flag, a symbol of gay rights, during Croatia's Euro 2012 qualifier against Malta this Wednesday. Markovic's remarks were followed by an appeal from a leading German player for gay players to muster the courage to come out. Mario Gomez, 25, the Bayern Munich striker, said it was time to stop treating homosexuality as a "taboo topic", adding that if players felt they could come out, they would "play as though they had been liberated".
His comments caused a stir: they went against the grain of anything any other leading player had said on the topic, with most warning that an outing would put too much pressure on a player active in what, despite the large rise in female spectators in recent years, remains a predominantly macho sport.
Theo Zwanziger, the head of Germany's football federation, who has been commended for his appeal to gay players to approach him if they want to come out, has voiced his surprise that professional football remains one of the few areas of public life where homosexuality is taboo. "In politics, art and culture it is no longer a problem but professional football appears to be more set in its ways," he said. Some gay players particularly in Germany and Italy, even arrange fake marriages, German media expert Tatjana Eggeling told the TV programme ZDF Sportstudio.