Mesut Ozil, the 29 year old Arsenal attacker announced recently that he is retiring from international football with immediate effect following the treatment he received from the German football association (DFB). He stated that he is no longer comfortable wearing the German national team shirt because of the way the German football association treated him. He accused Reinhard Grindel (the German football association president) of racism; according to him, “I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose.”
Mesut Ozil was badly criticised by the German Football Association and the media after Germany’s disgraceful exit from the World Cup when they failed to qualify from their group after losing to both Mexico and South Korea. He was also asked by Reinhard Grindel (the DFB president) to publicly explain the reason behind his controversial photograph with president Recep Erdogan of Turkey.
Since his international debut in 2009, Ozil has played 92 times for Germany, scoring 23 goals. He helped Germany to win the 2014 World Cup, also to reach the semi-finals of the 2012 and 2016 European Championships. He was named national team player of the year five times.
Source: Viewers Corner News.
