There are no gay players in Italian soccer, Italy coach Marcello Lippi said on Wednesday.
''I believe there aren't any gays among soccer players,'' Lippi told the gossip website KlausCondicio.
In a career spanning 40 years on the field and off, the World Cup winning coach said he had never personally met a gay player or heard of one.
But he said some players might have ''tendencies'' they were forced to hide because of macho locker room culture.
''Because of the way we players are, it would be hard for a footballer to live his homosexuality in a natural way''.
If a player came out of the closet and confided in him, however, Lippi said he would be ''prepared to help him''.
He said he would ''never'' rule out gays from his squad and would actively encourage them ''not to let themselves be put off, to be good professionals and do what they want in their private lives''.
Asked about recent claims by an anonymous third-division player who told Italian TV he arranged gay sex parties for a dozen top-flight players, Lippi said: ''It's not believable. Every so often gossip comes out but then it turns out to have been cooked up to get attention''.
Italian gay association Arcigay accused Lippi of ''ridiculous'' denial that ''fuels the hostile climate against gays in Italian soccer''.
''In particularly macho milieux like soccer, gays conceal themselves even more than usual and since they don't look or behave differently they have clearly been invisible to Lippi too,'' said Arcigay President Aurelio Mancuso.
''As everyone knows, gays are people who practise all sports, are engaged in all professions and live in this society like everyone else,'' he said.
Mancuso accused Lippi of ''being like the three monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil''.
He invited the coach to a ''public debate'' to ''speak frankly about Italian soccer and homosexuality''.
BUT LIPPI PRAISED FOR NOT DISCRIMINATING.
Former Arcigay chief Franco Grillini, an ex-MP who caused a stir a couple of years ago by saying dozens of his parliamentary colleagues were gay, praised Lippi for ''coming out and being the first national coach to say he wouldn't discriminate against gays''.
Grillini said this was ''positive news'' but went on: ''Unfortunately, I'm sorry to say that Lippi's eyes must be covered in ham if he can state, with frankly misplaced certainty, that there are no gays in Italian soccer''.
Gays in soccer are ''forced to have fake girlfriends and lead a double life,'' Grillini said.
Italian soccer did not have only gay players, he said, but also gay coaches, organisers, journalists and ''many'' gay referees.
Grillini, who currently runs a gay information group called Gaynet, urged Lippi ''to propose something concrete, starting with your willingness not to discriminate''.
''Let's start a campaign like in England to make soccer a sport without machismo or hate''.
A leftwing MP, Paola Concia, also urged Lippi to lead a campaign against homophobia in sport similar to existing ones in Britain and Germany, saying ''it would prevent many young people being driven from sport as well as educating fans''.
''Does Lippi really think there's something in soccer that magically stops people feeling homosexual desires?'' she asked.
''It's the old story: pretending not to know is reassuring. It helps you to avoid tackling the issue''.
