German FA president admits regret in handling of Ozil saga

German football federation (DFB) president Reinhard Grindel, the chief subject of Mesut Ozil's chagrin in his impassioned retirement from international duty, has confessed that he could have dealt with the affair better.

Ozil reeled off "racism and disrespect" as his main reasons for stepping away from Germany duty on Sunday, and was especially critical of Grindel. The Arsenal midfielder said the DFB boss had made him a "scapegoat" of Die Mannschaft's group-stage elimination from this summer's World Cup, and that Grindel's supposedly discriminatory behavior was linked to a controversial photo between himself and Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan prior to the tournament.

The top brass of German football have since "emphatically" denied issues of racism in the federation - "the DFB has been very involved in integration work in Germany for many years," it countered - but the fallout has divided a nation. One high-profile spat involved Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness and Ozil's agent, and was triggered by the former claiming the player's international performances had been "crap for years."

Related - Ozil's agent: Hoeness 'a shame to German football and people of Germany'

Grindel regretted that the DFB's criticism of the Erdogan picture "was abused for racist slogans," he said in quotes relayed by Sky Sports.

He added: "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, as president, should have unequivocally said what for me and the association is obvious: any form of racial hostility is intolerable."

Ozil singled out various other aspects of German football and culture in his scathing statement, including his former school and sponsors of the national team. He is yet to feature in Arsenal's pre-season programme, and sat out of Thursday's friendly against Atletico Madrid with Mohamed Elneny, Alex Iwobi, and reserve goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.