Søren Dahl (L) and Carl Nassib. (Photo from Dahl’s Instagram)
After months of internet speculation and Instagram snaps, it’s official: Carl Nassib and Søren Dahl are a couple.
Last weekend, the NFL player posted an Instagram story featuring a photograph of himself with his arm around the Danish swimmer.
Dahl, who competed in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, is seen wearing a Buccaneers jersey with Nassib’s number 94, and the linebacker has his arm around Dahl’s waist.
Although there’s been a series of snapshots since last summer featuring Nassib and Dahl together on the beach, in a club and at the gym, this is the first one in which Nassib wrote something to clarify they are dating.
“Kicking off 2023 with my man and a trip to the playoffs,” he captioned the photo. Until now, Nassib has been extremely private about his personal life.
Queerty noted Dahl also posted a few pictures on Instagram on Jan. 2, including that same photo, with the caption, “Always Big Boy Season.” From the background and location, it appears this was taken outside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, home of the Bucs.
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This will be the second playoff season for Nassib, the first active NFL player to come out as gay. He made the playoffs with the Las Vegas Raiders last year, and this year he’s with Tom Brady and the Bucs. Their postseason game date and opponent will be announced in just days, but first they’ll take on the Atlanta Falcons this Sunday, already having clinched the No. 4 seed and the NFC South title.
Dahl swam for Denmark in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay in 2016’s Olympic Games. Prior to that, he competed for North Carolina State and was a two-time NCAA champion swimmer, winning titles in the 4×100 free and 4×200 free relays. Sometime around 2018, he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, to pursue his master’s degree in Strategic Communication at Texas Christian University. After graduating in 2020, Dahl moved to New York City.
In 2021, he shared the story with followers of his TikTok account of how a former swimming coach called him the “F-word” and told him he’d “never become a good swimmer” if he were to come out as gay. The video then shows Dahl sporting a big smile and photos from his time swimming at the Olympics.
@kingkoper0 Get on my level fckrrr🖕🏼 #olympics #gayathlete #representation #homophobic #sports #gay ♬ Touch It Clean – Remix – Dj Raulito
Although they dedicated themselves to different sports and were born in different countries, Nassib and Dahl are the same age, 29, celebrating birthdays just months apart.
Since coming out, Nassib has stepped up to help LGBTQ+ youth by raising money for The Trevor Project, for two years now: He’s matched all donations to the organization up to $100,000. The group operates a crisis lifeline and provides resources to young people struggling with coming out, and also supports important research into the lack of affirming situations across race, identity and age groups.
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