Mesut Özil: the head of his old school defends himself against the allegations

The footballer Mesut Özil strongly criticized Sunday three statements: the German Football Association, the DFB, the media and its old school. The grounds of the multipurpose school Gelsenkirchen Berger had canceled a planned visit from him, after laying on the side of the Turkish president for photos. The school told his management "that they no longer want to see me, because they're afraid of the media because of my photo with President Erdogan", especially because of "the rise from the right to Gelsenkirchen, "writes Ozil. Explanations in the wording, you can read here). The cancellation had "really hurt".

Director Maike Selter-Beer defended against criticism and justified the cancellation with delay issues. "There should have been an appointment for the Pentecost holidays, but there were no students," she told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. However, it may well be that there are also scheduling issues among school board members.

As the "WAZ" wants to know from another source, there were also dates offered by Özil before the Pentecost holidays. Shortly before the cancellation in May, there was also an internal meeting of school leadership on the issue

. The newspaper also told the newspaper that he had told Özil's lawyer that he had to be careful in Gelsenkirchen because of the strong presence of right-wing parties. Ozil is always welcome at school, said Selter-Beer. You see him as a former student and promoter, not as a political person. With Özil 's lawyer, she agreed to a new date for the beginning of autumn. So you can not wait to be there.

Özil was born in 1988 in Gelsenkirchen. On Sunday, he announced his retirement from the German national football team and criticized the DFB president, Reinhard Grindel, particularly acerbically. "In the eyes of Grindel and his helpers I am German, if we win, but an immigrant, if we lose."

A commentary on the failure of the DFB in the Özil case can be read here. A chronology of events – from the photo with Erdogan in May to the resignation on Sunday – can be found here. And you can read about the reactions to Özil's resignation of German and Turkish politicians here.