Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has announced his decision to retire from international football with Germany. Before the World Cup, the 29-year-old faced heavy criticism in Germany after he met with Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ozil, who posed for a photo with Erdogan alongside Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan and Everton striker Cenk Tosun, insisted that he was respecting his Turkish heritage and the public meeting ‘had no political intentions’.
But the midfielder has decided to no longer represent Germany’s national team following the backlash he has received for his public appearance with Turkey’s president.
Ozil claims he has been ‘belittled’ by DFB president Reinhard Grindel after attempting to explain the reasoning for meeting Erdogan and has revealed he and his family have received hate mail and threatening phone calls following the incident. Ozil, who made his international debut for Germany in 2009, has been capped 92 times by the national side.
He wrote:
‘The treatment I have received from the DFB and many others makes me no longer want to wear the German national team shirt,’ Ozil posted on Instagram. ‘I feel unwanted and think that what I have achieved since my international debut in 2009 has been forgotten.
‘People with racially discriminative backgrounds should not be allowed to work in the largest football federation in the world that has many played from dual-heritage families. ‘Attitudes likes theirs simply do not reflect the players they are supposedly represent. ‘It is with a heavy heart and after much consideration that because of recent events, I will no longer be playing for Germany at international level whilst I have this feeling of racism and disrespect.
‘I used to wear the German shirt with such pride and excitement, but now I don’t. ‘This decision has been extremely difficult to make because I have always given everything for my teammates, the coaching staff and the good people of Germany. ‘But when high ranking DFB officials treat me as they did, disrespect my Turkish roots and selfishly turn me into political propaganda, then enough is enough. ‘That is not why I play football, and I will not sit back and do nothing about it. ‘Racism should never, ever be accepted.’