Mesut Özil announces his retirement at 34 years old
Germany's World Cup-winning midfielder Mesut Özil announced his retirement from football at the age of 34 on Wednesday.
The former Real Madrid and Arsenal player was a key member of Germany's World Cup-winning side in Brazil in 2014.
He retired from the squad in 2018 amid a political debate in Germany about an influx of migrants and after backlash over a photograph taken with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, saying he faced "racism and disrespect" over his Turkish ancestry.