The president of the DFB, Reinhard Grindel, has conceded mistakes were made in the handling of Mesut Ozil‘s appearance alongside Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan is increasingly seen in Germany and abroad as a controversial, authoritarian leader, and Ozil subsequently received widespread backlash for a photo showing the two men at an event in London in May.
And when publicly stating his retirement from international football, Ozil took aim at the German fans, the DFB, the media and sponsors for their attitude towards his Turkish ancestry, claiming they treated him with “racism and disrespect.”
The Arsenal playmaker suggested fans saw him as German when successful and as a foreigner when the national team faltered, as in their group stage exit in the Russia World Cup.
However, Grindel said on Thursday he regretted how the DFB’s criticism of the photo “was abused for racist slogans.”
“The resignation statement by Mesut Ozil has triggered a debate on racism in general and the ability of football to integrate in particular. As DFB President, I do not want to escape this debate,” Grindel said, via Sky Sports.
“In hindsight, I, as president, should have unequivocally said what for me and the association is obvious: any form of racial hostility is intolerable.”
In what was a fine international career, Ozil amassed 92 caps for Die Mannschaft over a nine-year period, scoring 23 goals.
In that time, he helped Germany win their fourth World Cup in 2014.
The post DFB president concedes mistakes were made in handling of Mesut Ozil appeared first on Squawka News.
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