Mesut Ozil retires from international football

Mesut Ozil is a Turkish-born German footballer, who was tipped to be one of their best ever. The 29-year old has had a glorious career with Germany and is currently also a part of English club Arsenal FC. He recently shocked the world with a letter to announce his retirement from the national team.

He took to Facebook and Twitter to announce his retirement in a 2,300-word letter to his fans and others concerned. This retirement, while shocking, can also be termed as controversial. The retirement has sparked debates on political issues as well as on racism issues in football.

‘Racism’ and ‘disrespect’ received were the two main reasons that the star had to sensationally quit the national team. He posted a picture with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which led to a lot of negative comments and questions of his ‘loyalty’ to Germany being raised.

He was also heavily criticized for his performance in the World Cup in Russia, where Germany was knocked out in the group stage itself. There were many who even received his retirement with criticism, while others poured out sympathy towards the German star footballer, who is a 2014 World Cup winner, capped 92 times by Germany.

Ozil was made a scapegoat after Germany recorded their worst World Cup performance in 80 years. The issue started way back in May when he was pictured with the Turkish President and it has ended with this – “I will no longer be playing for Germany at international level whilst I have this feeling of racism and disrespect.”

Another big line from the statement was, “I am German when we win, but an immigrant when we lose.” Take a look at this 3-page long retirement letter from the international superstar: