Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has said that former Premier League footballer Thomas Hitzlsperger has shown a "lot of courage" by publicly revealing that he is gay.

The 31-year-old announced the news during an interview with German website Zeit Online, claiming that he has "never been ashamed" of who he is.

Following the news, Barton took to Twitter to express his 'sadness' that the few footballers that have come out felt like they could only do it once they had retired.

Barton wrote: "Thomas Hitzlsperger has shown a lot of courage today. Sad times when people have to wait till they retire from their chosen profession before they feel other people will judge them solely on who the human being is. Shame on all of us as a society."

Hitzlsperger is only the fourth footballer to be openly gay.