A shirtless Robbie Rogers covers gay glossy Attitude's Style Issue.

In a 14-page photo spread, Rogers, who became the first active openly gay soccer player when he debuted with the LA Galaxy last year, discusses his rocky coming out.

“Definitely in my career there were so many times when I struggled with my mental health. That affected the way I played,” Rogers said.

“For younger people that are closeted and they see that it's illegal to be gay in Qatar, then they know that the World Cup's going to be there and maybe they're football fans? That's so damaging on their psyche, on their mental health.”

“My thing was that I was done and I was going to [come out] on my own terms, away from a football club. I was going to take some time to myself and no-one was going to try and persuade me to do that while I was back in football and no-one was going to persuade me to do it in any other way,” he added.

A behind-the-scenes video of the cover shoot is embedded on this page. Visit our video library for more videos.