The German Football Federation counters Ozil: We keep some guilt, but we're not racist.

The midfielder of Arsenal recorded 92 presentations with the Panzers, and in 2014 he was proclaimed world champion, the Periscope broadcast.

Ozil announced his national retirement decision Sunday, until today the official reaction of the German Football Federation has arrived.

“Photos with Turkish President Erdogan raised many questions in German society. We agree that the DFB holds some part of the blame for this.

We regret that Mesut Ozil had the feeling that he was not sufficiently protected from racist slogans like Jerome Boateng once was.

However, it was important that Ozil provide answers to the topic, as did Ilkay Gundogan despite the World Cup outcome in Russia. In DFB, we win and lose together, all as a team.

“The DFB would be happy if Mesut Ozil remained part of the team, but he decided not to.

“We respect it and it is a sign of respect that we leave some of the statements, but that we disagree with our content and ours without public comment.

We strongly refuse any link to racism. The DFB has been very involved in the work of integration into Germany for many years.

“The DFB regrets about the departure of Mesut Ozil from the national team, but that does not change our association's determination to continue successful integration work,”. /Periscope/