August 16 – The row over racism claims by German midfielder Mesut Ozil, which led to his surprise retirement at 29 from international football, has taken another twist with national teammate Toni Kroos rubbishing such claims.
Ozil quit the German team in the wake of Germany’s shock World Cup exit at the group stage in Russia after revealing that he and his family had received hate mail, threatening phone calls and online abuse sparked by his Turkish roots and specifically being photographed with Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London in May.
Ozil claimed German FA (DFB) chiefs wanted him “out of the team” before the start of the World Cup and that only the intervention of head coach Joachim Low and team manager Oliver Bierhoff ensured he would travel to Russia.
The German FA has emphatically rejected any allegations of racism and although anti-discrimination bodies have come out in support of Ozil, Kroos described as “nonsense” suggestions that Ozil was ill-treated and made a scapegoat.
He told Bild newspaper: “Basically Mesut is a deserved international and as a player he deserved a better departure. But the way he resigned was not in order. The parts in his statement that are rightly addressed are unfortunately overshadowed by the significantly higher amount of nonsense. I think he knows very well that racism within the national team and the DFB does not exist.”
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