2312THS Media Release: DFB Statement on Mesut Özil's Retirement

This report presents a media release from the German Football Association (DFB) concerning the retirement of Mesut Özil from the national team. The release addresses the controversy surrounding Özil's Turkish heritage and his meeting with Turkish President Erdogan, which led to accusations of discrimination and racism. The DFB expresses regret over Özil's decision, acknowledges his contributions, and condemns the media's role in personal attacks. The statement emphasizes the organization's commitment to diversity, anti-discrimination policies, and its efforts in promoting integration within German football. It also outlines proposed policies to prevent future incidents, including awareness campaigns, a grievance redress system, and clearer communication strategies. The DFB denies any association with discriminatory practices, despite Özil's claims, and seeks to revise its strategies to address player concerns and promote a more inclusive environment. The report references relevant academic and industry sources to support its arguments and recommendations for improvement.

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Media Release
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DFB statement on the Retirement of Mesut Özil
The Presidential Board of the German FA (DFB) expresses deep regret and loss
regarding the retirement decision of Mesut Özil. DFB has always considered the eminent
midfielder as a key asset and will be ever grateful to his service and performance. Özil has
contributed to Germany’s notable performance in the international arena of football during his
tenure. He also has e player played a major role in Germany’s victory in the World Cup 2014. It
would have been favourable, however, if Özil stayed with the team. DFB thanks him for his
contribution in the 92 appearances he made wearing the national jersey
DFB condemns the recent media upheaval in the context of racial profiling, personal
attack and discrimination. The sports organisation has always valued the notion of diversity, not
only in the field of football but also in all its units, extended to the greater reach of society. It
stands strictly against discrimination and ratifies the Anti-discriminatory policy of FIFA. FIFA
recognises the role of concerned organisations and institutions in eliminating racism and
discrimination in football (Geeraert, 2016). As a part of the international fraternity of football,
DFB also holds itself responsible for promoting diversity and anti-discriminatory practices.
DFB identifies diversity as a strength. In German football arena, we aim to pay respect to
the difference in our roots, culture and religions. This attitude of respect and recognition helps
the organisation build a stronger bond among its members. Both on and off the field, we value

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human rights, freedom of expression, fair play and respect (Kelly, 2013). Moreover, these values
are expected to be followed by everyone attached to DFB.
The recent controversy regarding Özil’s visit to the Turkish President Erdogan, however,
has affected the spirit of DFB to some extent. The incident has given rise to questions and
agitation in some people in Germany. Even it was widely discussed in the media as well as the
social networking platforms (Oltermann, 2018). DFB, specifically, denies being a part of this
adverse discussion against Özil or the other players involved in the issue.
The star midfielder has expressed his discontent regarding the issue, where he claims that
DFB has been a part of the discriminatory treatment (Bryant, 2018). However, we strongly deny
his claim and maintain our stand as an organisation with diversity. Further, DFB has been
actively involved in Integration works in Germany for years. It is consistently trying to promote
anti-discrimination in the arena of national and international football. It has incorporated
thousands of refugee children into the football fraternity right from the amateur league to the top-
notch of the national team (Grabowski, 2018). Thus, we deny our association with any form of
discriminatory practice on the merit of the integration work and diversity policies of the
organisation.
We admit the fact that we failed to take adequate actions to ensure the safety and security
of the player. Özil has claimed, unlike Boetang, that he felt threatened and insecure in this
incident and thus decided to retire from the team. We accept our fault not to meet his
expectations. We would like to revise our strengths and strategies to deter such incidents from
occurring again. For the said purpose, we propose specific policies that may diminish any future
occurrence of this nature and create a better culture in the long run. They are as following:

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i) Promotion of anti-discriminatory policies through awareness campaigns: In the
football world, there are several educational projects and campaign. An
association can take initiatives like workshops, presentations, international player
exchange, panel discussions, seminars, exhibitions and video project to promote
anti-discrimination and diversity. The FIFA Good Practice Guide on Diversity
and anti-discrimination refers to several options to promote diversity. Campaigns
are more engaging and authentic when the campaign integrated the opportunities
outlined by FIFA. The campaign will be successful if the campaign includes the
supporters of the team.
ii) Establishing a grievance redress system for players and supporting staff: The
grievance redress system for the football players and supporting staffs are
essential to promote diversity and anti-discrimination. This system is used to
attend to problem, complaints and issues of the footballer and supporting staff
while the project is being enforced.
iii) Communicating the policies and culture of the organisation to the public as well
as the media with more clarity: To communicate the organisation’s policies
and culture to the supporter and media, the organisation has to keep the message
as simple as possible, utilise storytelling as much as possible to develop the
communication, use the media, and think broader to improve the communication
with people and media (Folger, Poole & Stutman, 2017). Public and media want
more clarity in the communication procedure. The football association has to

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deliver the policy and culture of the organisation to the media and public with
lucidity.
DFB acknowledges Özil’s grievance and insecurity. However, it vehemently denies the
idea that DFB could be associated with any-discriminatory practice or racism, in any levels of
the organisation. Thank you.

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References
Bryant, T. (2018). Mesut Özil walks away from Germany team citing ‘racism and disrespect’.
Retrieved 4 October 2019, from
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/22/mesut-ozil-retires-german-national-
team-discrimination
Folger, J., Poole, M. S., & Stutman, R. K. (2017). Working through conflict: Strategies for
relationships, groups, and organizations. Routledge.
Geeraert, A. (2016). The EU Sports Policy Route. In The EU in International Sports
Governance (pp. 108-136). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Grabowski, A. (2018). Activity of German sports (football) enterprises and Corporate Social
Responsibility. Annales. Etyka w Życiu Gospodarczym, 21(7), 167-175.
Kelly, L. (2013). ‘Social inclusion’ through sports-based interventions Critical social
policy, 31(1), 126-150.
Oltermann, P. (2018). Özil and Gündoğan's Erdoğan picture causes anger in Germany. Retrieved
4 October 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/16/mesut-ozil-
ilkay-gundogan-recep-tayyip-erdogan-picture