Last year, Mesut Özil ended his career as a professional footballer. Since then, the 2014 world champion has concentrated on his family life – and surprised with a physical transformation.
Anyone who follows Mesut Özil on Instagram can hardly believe their eyes for the past few months. The former DFB kicker and 2014 world champion is almost unrecognizable. His physique, which was rather narrow and frail when he was active, has now completely disappeared. The Gelsenkirchen native has developed massive amounts of muscle in the last few months and keeps posting snapshots for his fans from the gym. Now the ex-Real Madrid professional spoke to him about his transformation. When asked about his goals, Özil said with a wink: “I’m not waiting for an offer from WWE.”
He is also alluding to his former Werder Bremen team colleague Tim Wiese, who also developed huge amounts of muscle after his career ended and then appeared in the ring several times as a wrestler. But Özil only does it for himself and to stay fit, as he now says: “It’s a lot of fun. I have my own gym in my house and a personal trainer.”
Controversial and admired
The football genius from Gelsenkirchen is retiring: the stages of Mesut Özil’s career in pictures
Özil ended his career at the Istanbul club Başakşehir in 2023 and withdrew completely from the football business. It’s currently difficult for him to imagine a career as a coach or manager: “You never know, but at the moment it’s not up for debate for me. I’m happy the way things are at the moment. I’m not bored and we’ll see. how this will all develop in the next few years.” By the way: This year marks the tenth anniversary of the DFB team’s triumph at the 2014 World Cup. Özil has his gold medal in an apparently safe place: “The medal is in my house – very well protected. These are great memories.”
Mesut Özil is the father of two daughters
Mesut Özil started his career at FC Schalke 04 and moved to league rivals Werder Bremen in 2008. In 2010 he accepted the call to international club Real Madrid, where he developed into one of the best attacking midfielders in the world. From 2013 to 2021 he played for Arsenal FC in the English Premier League and then moved to Fenerbahce Istanbul before ending his successful career at Başakşehir. In addition to the World Cup title, Özil also won the DFB Cup in his professional career, became both Spanish champion and cup winner and was able to win the English FA Cup a total of four times.
Mesut Özil has repeatedly been massively criticized in the press, especially because of his closeness to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is also his best man. Özil is also accused of being a supporter of the right-wing Turkish group Gray Wolves. However, his father Mustafa once emphasized that his son was not a nationalist and was not interested in politics. After relationships with current Bushido wife Anna-Maria Ferchichi and singer Mandy Capristo, Özil married the Turkish-Swedish actress Amine Gülse in Istanbul in 2019. Their daughter Eda was born in 2020, followed by her sister Ela in 2022.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
