Former Germany star Mesut Ozil announces his official retirement

Former German international and 2014 world champion Mesut Ozil of Turkish club Basaksehir announced his retirement from football today, at the age of 34.
The midfielder, who after the 2018 World Cup criticised the German squad selection process over accusations of racism, confirmed his "immediate retirement from professional football" in a message posted on his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

"In recent months and weeks, after suffering several injuries, it has become increasingly clear that it is time to leave this wonderful world of football," Ozil said.
The former Werder Bremen, Real Madrid and Arsenal have struggled in recent years with clubs. Last July, he signed with Basaksehir for one season after a difficult spell with Fenerbahçe.

After arriving in Istanbul at the beginning of 2021, number 10 was excluded in March 2022 from Fenerbahçe after entering into a conflict with its management. Ozil had already ended up sidelined with his young club Arsenal. The player, who began his professional career in the Bundesliga with Schalke, has come under fire in Germany after he posed for a photo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in May 2018, shortly before the World Cup in Russia. Denouncing Ka as "racist" attacks, Ozil announced his international retirement after the 2018 World Cup.

The midfielder, who has long been a model of integration into the sport, has come under heavy and sometimes suspicious criticism in the German media after the historic and humiliating elimination of world champions Germany from the group stage. The player, who scored 23 goals in 92 caps for the Mannschaft, said he felt the DFB president considered him Germany "when we win" but "an immigrant when we lose".

The accusation against Ozil, who was born in Germany's Ruhr basin, sparked controversy over racism in Germany, where the world's largest Turkish community lives. A number of Turkish ministers then welcomed the previous international decision, with one describing it as "a target in the crosshairs of the outbreak." In 2019, Ozil married former Miss Turkey Emna Gülççé in a wedding attended by Erdogan.