Germany internationals Mesut Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan have been criticised by the German Football Association (DFB) for meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London on Sunday.
The Premier League duo both have Turkish heritage and posed for photos with Erdogan—who is up for re-election on June 24—at London's Four Seasons hotel, a move DFB President ReinhardGrindel condemned as exploitative, per DFB.de:
"The DFB of course respects the special situation for our players with migrant backgrounds, but football and the DFB stands for values that Mr. Erdogan does not sufficiently respect. Therefore, it is not a good thing that our internationals have let themselves be exploited for his election campaign stunt.