Mesut Özil's resignation from the German National Team created many waves, and some of those have hit the German Football Association's president really hard.
Hence, Reinhard Grindel, has admitted he mishandled the entire situation with his remarks, creating a racism atmosphere in German football that will not benefit anyone.
"The resignation statement by Mesut Ozil has triggered a debate on racism in general and the ability of football to integrate in particular. As DFB President, I do not want to escape this debate. In hindsight, I should have unequivocally said what for me and the association is obvious: any form of racial hostility is intolerable," Grindel stated in a press release.
The under-fire exec sparked controversy after criticizing Özil and Ilkay Gundögan for getting involved with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan by having a picture taken with him. Soon after these remarks, Özil stepped down from Die Mannschaft for being treated as a German citizen when the team won, but being given a different treatment when the team lost.
Gundögan and Özil, next to president Erdogan and Cenk Tösun (right)
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Grindel urged the DFB to find a way to stop racial gestures against inmigrants or German citizens with different backgrounds, in order to show the true nature of German people.
The under-fire DFB boss has been asked to step down from his charge due to the team's performance in the World Cup, where they failed to make it past the group stage for the first time in 70 years.
