Mesut Özil retires from the German National Team, accusing the federation of racism
- Mesut Özil, a midfielder who has been a key piece of the German national team for years, including Germany's 2014 World Cup win, has retired from international soccer.
- Özil, who has Turkish ancestry and is a practicing Muslim, has cited racist abuse from certain media outlets and fans, as well as mistreatment from the German football federation's president, as the reason for his decision.
Mesut Özil, a German-Turkish midfielder who was a crucial piece of Germany's 2014 World Cup win, has retired from the German National Team and international soccer, citing racist treatment from the federation as well as a portion of German fans.
Özil had drawn controversy before the World Cup after he posed for a photo with Turkish President Recep Erdogan. The photo has triggered a slew of harsh treatment towards Özil based on his Turkish ancestry, Islamic faith, and the history of human rights abuses in Turkey under Erdogan.
"What I can't accept, are German media outlets repeatedly blaming my dual-heritage and a simple picture for a bad World Cup on behalf of an entire squad," Özil said in a lengthy statement posted on social media.
He had particularly harsh words for the DFB President Reinhard Grindel, whom he noted had previously called multiculturalism "a myth" and had made comments critical of Islam previously while a member of Parliament.
One particularly strong statement from Özil was, "In the eyes of Grindel and his supporters, I am German when we win, but an immigrant when we lose." This echoes something Romelu Lukaku said shortly before the start of the World Cup, when he wrote in The Players' Tribune, "When things were going well, I was reading newspapers articles and they were calling me Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian striker. When things weren't going well, they were calling me Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian striker of Congolese descent."
Özil's announcement comes as multiculturalism has become a hot-button issue in the world of soccer. The France national team has been celebrated for its diverse lineup of players, although even that sparked controversy when Trevor Noah congratulated Africa on France's World Cup win.
As Özil, Lukaku, and others can attest, bigotry is alive and well in soccer.