Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy has described the child sex abuse scandal in English football as "sickening".
Numerous former professionals have come forward to allege that they were sexually abused by coaches during their youth careers in the sport.
As a result, police forces up and down the country have opened investigations into the historical abuse claims, while former coaches at Chelsea and Southampton have been implicated.
"It's sickening to know what's been going on and the ordeals the victims have been through and are still going through. It's not nice at all," Vardy told ITV's Good Morning Britain. "To be honest with you we're lucky that some have come out and spoken about it so we can get something done about it."
Vardy also hit out at former darts world champion Eric Bristow, who lost his job as a Sky Sports pundit after describing the victims as "wimps".
Bristow has since apologised for the remarks that he made on Twitter.
"It's just a joke of a comment," said Vardy. "It's disgusting, if you think it's that easy. You've seen the ordeals that they've gone through, when they've spoken about it. It's obviously not been easy to come out and speak about it and to say something like that, especially a person in his position, is beyond a joke."
Last week, police revealed that 350 people have reported crimes of sexual abuse in football.
Danielle Joynson
