Mesut Ozil
Midfielder quits national team in racism row
A long-term fixture for Germany and very much the personification of the imaginative play that Bundestrainer Joachim Low insists on, Mesut Ozil has stirred up a hornet’s nest with his decision to quit the Nationalmannschaft.
In an eloquent, elaborate three-part announcement on social media, the 29-year-old pulled no punches, forcibly arguing that his German-Turk background had rendered him a target for “racism and disrespect”.
Ozil feels he was singled out as the patsy for Germany’s World Cup debacle this summer and is particularly resentful at the way his springtime photo shoot with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was portrayed in the media,
with the controversy never dying down and some fans of the opinion he was not committed to the cause.
“For me, having a picture with president Erdogan wasn’t about politics or elections,” declared Ozil, who has been capped 92 times and was a World Cup winner in 2014. “It was about me respecting the highest office of my family’s country. My job is to play football, not to be a politician. Our meeting was not an endorsement of policies.
“Like many people, I’ve roots in more than one country. While I grew up in Germany, my ancestry is in Turkey. I’ve two hearts: one German, one Turkish.
“What I can’t accept are German media outlets repeatedly blaming my dual-heritage and a simple photo for a bad World Cup on behalf of an entire squad. Newspapers are trying to turn the German nation against me. I used to wear the German shirt with pride and excitement but now I don’t.
“I feel unwanted and believe that my achievements since making my national debut in 2009 have been forgotten.”
Much of Ozil’s ire was aimed directly
“I’m a German when we win and an immigrant when we lose”
at Reinhard Grindel, the president of the German federation (DFB).
When the Erdogan furore first broke in May, Grindel initially backed national coach Low’s decision to select Ozil for Russia 2018. But after their title defence spectacularly disintegrated, the DFB chief was heard singing a quite different song, pointing the finger at the playmaker and claiming Ozil – who up to that point had not passed public comment on the affair – owed an explanation to the fans.
Is Ozil the establishment’s convenient choice of fall guy? The man himself clearly thinks so.
“In the eyes of Grindel and his supporters I’m a German when we win and an immigrant when we lose,” said the Arsenal midfielder. “I’m very disappointed but not surprised by Reinhard Grindel’s handling of all this. In 2004, as a representative in the German parliament, [he] claimed that ‘multi-culturalism was a myth and a lifelong lie’.
“People with racially discriminative backgrounds should not be allowed to work in the largest football federation in the world, one that has many players of mixed lineage. I won’t stand for being a scapegoat for his incompetence and inability to do his job properly.”
Stung by Ozil’s incendiary critique the DFB announced that they “emphatically reject” any allegations of racism. Shame Germany’s most talented player of his generation thinks otherwise.