“It’s with a heavy heart and after much consideration that because of the recent news, I’ll no longer be playing for Germany at International level whilst I have this feeling of racism and disrespect. I used to wear the German shirt with such pride and excitement,but now I don’t. This decision has been extremely difficult to make because I have always given everything for my teammates, the coaching staff and the good people of Germany. But when the high-ranking DFB officials treat me as they did, disrespect my Turkish roots and selfishly turn me into a political propaganda, then enough is enough. That is not why I play football, and I will not sit back and do nothing about it. Racism should never, ever be accepted.” - Mesut Özil
