Berlin: German soccer star Mesut Ozil said Sunday he would no longer play for the national team because he faced ‘racism and disrespect’ because of his Turkish roots.
Ozil, 29, was a key member of Germany’s World Cup-winning side in 2014 and has been voted by fans as the team’s player of the year five times since 2011.
The creative midfielder has faced a barrage of criticism at home for having his photograph taken with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in May. After Germany were eliminated from the group stage Ozil was made one of the scapegoats for their unsuccessful title defence.
Ozil, who plays for English club Arsenal, said German Football Association (DFB) President Reinhard Grindel had blamed him for Germany’s poor performance.
“In the eyes of Grindel and his supporters I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose,” Ozil wrote in a lengthy statement in English posted on his Twitter account. “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. I feel unwanted and think that what I have achieved since my international debut in 2009 has been forgotten,” added the midfielder.
Ozil questioned whether there were criteria for being German that he did not meet and asked why he should be referred to as German-Turkish when fellow German soccer players Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose were not referred to as German-Polish. “Is it because it is Turkey? Is it because I’m a Muslim? I think here lays an important issue,” Ozil asserted.
His decision to retire has already started a political rift with some of them blaming the DFB while others criticising the player.
- Played 92 times for Germany, scoring 33 goals in the process
- Was a member of the team who won the 2014 World Cup and lost in the semifinals of the 2016 Euro Championships