Integration to confrontation: Ozil's exit exposes bigger rift

Resignation row highlights acute sensitivities over politics in sport

BERLIN - Once hailed as a shining example of integration in Germany, Mesut Ozil has quit international duty amid bitter accusations of racism he leveled at German Football Association (DFB) chief Reinhard Grindel.

"In the eyes of Grindel and his supporters, I am German when we win but I am an immigrant when we lose," Ozil wrote in a lengthy farewell statement on Sunday.