Mesut Ozil urges FIFA to lift sanctions against Russian football
Former Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil has criticized FIFA's decision to suspend Russian teams from international competition, citing double standards.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0 / Author: joshjdss
Former Real Madrid, Arsenal, and Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil has publicly called for the lifting of international football sanctions against Russia. The German former player made the comments while attending a veterans' exhibition match between Turkish club Istanbul and Russian side Zenit.
During his address, Ozil criticized the International Federation of Association Football for their stance on Russian teams. He accused the governing body of maintaining double standards, contrasting the treatment of Russian teams with the lack of similar measures against others, such as Israel, and demanded a unified approach to all nations.
The sports community has always brought people together. In this process, FIFA did not impose an embargo on Israeli teams, but it did on Russian ones. I want to appeal to FIFA from here: enough with these double standards, let them treat everyone equally. Mesut Ozil
FIFA and UEFA suspended all Russian clubs and national teams from international competitions following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since the implementation of these measures, Russian teams have remained excluded from all official FIFA and UEFA tournaments.