Openly Gay Soccer Player Robbie Rogers to Write Book, ‘Coming Out to Play’ to be Published in 2014

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Robbie Rogers, the first openly gay male athlete to play in a U.S. professional league, has a memoir scheduled to be published next year.

Penguin Books announced Thursday that Coming Out to Play will be published as a paperback original. Penguin says Rogers’ book will track his rise from a “troubled, isolated child” to a winger for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.

The 26-year-old Rogers will co-write the book with Eric Marcusm, who collaborated on Greg Louganis’ bestselling memoir.

Rogers retired from soccer in February, when he revealed in a post on his blog that he was gay. But he began training with the Galaxy in the spring at the invitation of coach Bruce Arena and was signed by the team in May.