Megan Rapinoe’s twin sister Rachael has told how the US soccer star accidentally outed her as gay to their parents.

Rachael explained, on Cyd Zeigler’s podcast Five Rings To Rule Them All, she and Megan grew up in a religious part of California and did not discover their sexualities until they went to the University of Portland.

She said: "I told Megan I’d been going through a break-up and I was dating this girl, but I still would not consider myself gay or bisexual or anything. I just, you know, fell in love with a person.

“Meg then told me that she was attracted to women and that she thought she was gay. Once she came out to me that spring semester of 2005, once we had talked about it, Meg was like ’this is who I am’."

Rachael said her mother, Denise, could sense something was wrong with her daughter and so visited her at college.

"I was heartbroken. I was going through my first real break-up, and so my mom came up to Portland because she knew something was going on.

"I was at class, and her and Megan got to talking, and Megan came out to her. She didn’t take it very well, and she was very upset, and Meg’s second reaction after coming out was: ’Well, Rachael’s gay too’!

"And that’s basically how I came out. Which was fine. I really didn’t care, because I probably wouldn’t have said anything for a very long time, so you know, I should thank Megan for blasting me like that.

“That was her defense mechanism, to tell my mom and dad that I was gay too. So that’s my coming out story, and Megan’s.”

The revelation comes as another accolade is heaped upon Megan - this time being named on the first ever list of the top 50 LGBTQ women and nonbinary innovators in business and tech.

Megan is placed at number 14 on Fast Company magazine’s list who said she earned her spot for being a champion on and off the field.

They explained on their website: "Rapinoe’s open-armed victory stance at the culmination of the team’s historic second consecutive World Cup win spawned memes and got splashed across hats and T-shirts. 

“But Rapinoe has become a champion off the field, too. She’s an outspoken advocate for equal pay and continues to be an ally to under-represented groups.”