Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Mesut Ozil, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Football
Ryan Smart
Former Arsenal star Mesut Ozil has decided to make a career change after retiring from professional football.
Ozil hung up his boots in 2023 after spells in the Turkish Super Lig with Fenerbahce and Istanbul Basaksehir.
The Germany midfielder spent the majority of his playing career with Real Madrid and Arsenal, joining the latter for a club-record fee in 2013.
Ozil divided Arsenal fans towards the end of his time at the Emirates Stadium and he was out of favour under both Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta, but was one of the top midfielders in the Premier League for several years and provided 19 assists during the 2015/16 season.
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Since retiring, he has continued to run his own eSports team, M10, and has undergone a body transformation.
And he even aimed an unexpected dig at actor Leonardo DiCaprio's dating history on social media when the Hollywood star said he didn't know what Arsenal was.
But his latest career change has proven to be controversial.
He has become one of 39 new appointees into the Central Decision and Executive Board, a decision-making body devised by the Turkish government.
Turkey is currently led by controversial president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who heads the conservative AK Party (known in Turkey as the Justice and Development Party).
Ozil retired from international football in 2018 after a photo of himself and Germany team-mate Ilkay Gundogan alongside Erdogan sparked backlash.
Ozil, a third-generation Turkish-German, stated: "I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose. I used to wear the Germany shirt with such pride and excitement, but now I don't."
Erdogan was previously best man at the midfielder's wedding. Ozil's appointment was confirmed at a party congress meeting which re-elected Erdogan as head of his party for the ninth time, with tens of thousands of people reported to have been in attendance at a local sports hall.