{"id":3031,"date":"2016-07-22T09:36:22","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T04:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3031"},"modified":"2016-07-22T09:36:22","modified_gmt":"2016-07-22T04:06:22","slug":"immigrants-won-the-world-cup-but-ozils-retirement-reminds-us-that-racism-isnt-defeated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3031","title":{"rendered":"Immigrants Won the World Cup, But Ozil\u2019s Retirement Reminds Us that Racism Isn\u2019t Defeated"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"container page-content\"><p><span class=\"dropcap\">A<\/span><\/p><\/div><p>fter playing 92 matches for his country, most recently at the 2018 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/humour\/fifa-world-cup-2018-russia\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">World Cup<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, German midfielder Mesut Ozil announced his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pov\/work-mumbai-rains-home\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">retirement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from international football on Monday. At 29, Ozil surely has a few good Euro Cup and World Cup performances left in him, all the better to rinse the taste of Germany\u2019s sad showing from the mouths of dedicated Deutschland fans.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ozil, who is of Turkish heritage, had other reasons for his retirement that proved more important than the disappointment of quitting on a low note. He claimed that the German Football Association (DFB) head, Reinhard Grindel, only considers him a German when they win, and an immigrant when they lose. Ozil also said that regardless of his contributions, he is treated as an outsider. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, the DFB immediately refuted any allegations of racism. But Ozil\u2019s grievances are bigger than <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/humour\/football-fans-fifa-world-cup-2018\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">football<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Back in May, the third-generation German visited his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/first-person\/missing-mother-daughter-kolkata\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ancestral<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> homeland and posed for a photo with controversial President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan \u2013 a leader who has come under fire for his autocratic regime. Erdogan has also antagonised Chancellor Angela Merkel, going so far as to plead with German Turks not to vote for her. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s no wonder, then, that Ozil\u2019s photo-op caused a furore in Germany. In response, Ozil explained that he had acted out of respect for the highest office in his home country, rather than support for Erdogan. But the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/politics\/no-confidence-rahul-gandhi-narendra-modi\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">backlash<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> went beyond criticism to full-blown racism. Some, including German politicians, questioned the footballer\u2019s loyalty to his national team, and others sent him hate mail. Even now, following Ozil\u2019s retirement, the president of Bayern Munich skewered him for not playing well enough, and right-wing leaders have held him up as an example of failed immigrant integration.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is this the aftermath of what has been the most feel-good World Cup in recent memory? France\u2019s electrifying victory belonged to its black stars, prompting <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Daily Show<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s Trevor Noah to declare a World Cup win on behalf of Africa. Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku\u2019s stunning <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theplayerstribune.com\/en-us\/articles\/romelu-lukaku-ive-got-some-things-to-say\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">essay<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Player\u2019s Tribune<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> detailed the tearjerker trajectory of a kid from a poor Congolese family. This was the World Cup ahead of which an<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/20180528-hero-mali-migrant-saves-child-paris-balcony-france\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> undocumented migrant<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from Mali darted up a building to rescue a child dangling from a balcony, and was promptly offered French citizenship.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Surely this veritable tome of immigrant <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pov\/the-new-age-guru-is-the-old-dhongi-baba-with-a-degree\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fairy tales<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a bright spot in the generally <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/satire\/maharashtra-bandh-riots-first-world-problems-millennials-swiggy-uber-cigarettes\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">dismal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> relations between the EU and its migrants? Maybe now, they will be inspired to throw open their gates to those brave souls who have journeyed over land and sea, just to become the next generation of great European footballers?<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not exactly. Because even when immigrants go above and beyond, scaling buildings like Superman to save screaming children, when they <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/humour\/raj-thackeray-mns-vandalism\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">smash<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> records as world-renowned footballers, it is never enough to make them European. In his essay, Lukaku describes the heartbreaking moments when, due to his height and skin colour, parents would demand to see the ID of the young player who was trouncing their kids. He, like Ozil, felt that the press would call him a Belgian player in victory, and a Congolese immigrant in defeat. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ozil is hardly the first footballer to speak out about racism in a sport where minorities are often overrepresented because it is a rare instance of true <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/sports\/luka-modric-fifa-world-cup-finals-croatia-france-russia\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">meritocracy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Players from the Boateng brothers in Germany to Mario Balotelli in Italy have long fought against slurs and abuse, and this should come as no surprise. As any Indian abroad knows, former colonisers are often not as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pov\/when-did-terror-make-inroads-into-my-sleepy-toronto\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">welcoming<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as they might be to foreigners, and Africans in France and Belgium are no exception. Turks in Germany also have a long and unpleasant history of being stigmatised as temporary <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/humour\/unpaid-intern-work-bosses-exposure\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">workers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and it seems that Ozil, regardless of his fame, can\u2019t transcend the stereotype of only being a German when he is useful to Germany.<\/span>\n\n<blockquote class=\"quote--center\"><p>As any Indian abroad knows, former colonisers are often not as welcoming as they might be to foreigners, and Africans in France and Belgium are no exception.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a World Cup that was lauded for belonging to immigrants, Ozil\u2019s retirement statement throws up a new question: Is it possible for immigrants to belong? <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps the answer comes from Noah, whose <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/dhadak-janhvi-kapoor-ishaan-khatter-sairat-caste\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">joke<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> about an \u201cAfrican win\u201d drew umbrage from the French ambassador to the US. The ambassador insisted that the players were not African, but fully French. Noah, a South African, responded in terms that any immigrant would understand, pointing out that the players\u2019 Frenchness did not make them any less African \u2013 just as Ozil once said he had two hearts, one German and one Turkish.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alas, if Ozil\u2019s retirement is proof of anything, it\u2019s that immigrants, however heroic, went back to second-class <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/social-commentary\/indian-waiters-restaurants-women-bill\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">status<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as soon as the sheen of the World Cup wore off.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mesut Ozil once said he had two hearts, one German and one Turkish. But regardless of his fame, he can\u2019t transcend the stereotype of being a German only when he is useful to Germany. After a World Cup that was lauded for belonging to immigrants, Ozil\u2019s retirement statement throws up a new question: Is it possible for immigrants to belong?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":208,"featured_media":3032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[394],"tags":[327,5953,5754,5954,5955,5956,5957,5958,5504,280,5523,5959,5960,5961,5962,5650,5963,343,5964,5965,5966,5967,5968,1274],"class_list":["post-3031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-africa","tag-bayern-munich","tag-belgium","tag-boateng","tag-daily-show","tag-discrimination","tag-erdogan","tag-europe","tag-fifa","tag-france","tag-germany","tag-immigrants","tag-mario-balotelli","tag-merkel","tag-mesut-ozil","tag-migrants","tag-ozil","tag-racism","tag-refugees","tag-romelu-lukaku","tag-thomas-muller","tag-trevor-noah","tag-turkey","tag-world-cup"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Immigrants Won the World Cup, But Ozil\u2019s Retirement Reminds Us that Racism Isn\u2019t Defeated<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mesut Ozil once said he had two hearts, one German and one Turkish. 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After a World Cup that was lauded for belonging to immigrants, Ozil\u2019s retirement statement throws up a new question: Is it possible for immigrants to belong?","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kahini Iyer","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031"},"author":{"name":"Kahini Iyer","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#\/schema\/person\/dfa7873b3da2fc04ce9c2175364ca0e1"},"headline":"Immigrants Won the World Cup, But Ozil\u2019s Retirement Reminds Us that Racism Isn\u2019t Defeated","datePublished":"2016-07-22T04:06:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031"},"wordCount":826,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1532443301.jpg","keywords":["africa","bayern munich","belgium","boateng","daily show","discrimination","erdogan","europe","FIFA","france","Germany","immigrants","mario balotelli","merkel","mesut ozil","migrants","ozil","Racism","Refugees","romelu lukaku","thomas muller","trevor noah","turkey","World Cup"],"articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031","url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031","name":"Immigrants Won the World Cup, But Ozil\u2019s Retirement Reminds Us that Racism Isn\u2019t Defeated","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1532443301.jpg","datePublished":"2016-07-22T04:06:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#\/schema\/person\/dfa7873b3da2fc04ce9c2175364ca0e1"},"description":"Mesut Ozil once said he had two hearts, one German and one Turkish. But regardless of his fame, he can\u2019t transcend the stereotype of being a German only when he is useful to Germany. After a World Cup that was lauded for belonging to immigrants, Ozil\u2019s retirement statement throws up a new question: Is it possible for immigrants to belong?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1532443301.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1532443301.jpg","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=3031#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Immigrants Won the World Cup, But Ozil\u2019s Retirement Reminds Us that Racism Isn\u2019t Defeated"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#\/schema\/person\/dfa7873b3da2fc04ce9c2175364ca0e1","name":"Kahini Iyer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28f0aaa78fb3c2e6f74a6b9942c215b9e05c4f129048918912e608a6e3d60946?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28f0aaa78fb3c2e6f74a6b9942c215b9e05c4f129048918912e608a6e3d60946?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28f0aaa78fb3c2e6f74a6b9942c215b9e05c4f129048918912e608a6e3d60946?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kahini Iyer"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=208"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1532443301.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/208"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}