Özil posts photo with Erdoğan after May 28 runoff victory

Former Germany midfielder Mesut Özil has posted a photo of himself with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after he won a run-off presidential vote to seal another five-year term.

On Sunday evening, 34-year-old Özil shared a photo on Instagram in which he can be seen with Erdoğan in front of a plane. The president's wife, Emine Erdoğan, is also shown in the picture.

Özil, who was born in Germany but has Turkish ancestry, was a key player on Germany's 2014 World Cup winning team.

In the post Özil wrote "Thank God" followed by a heart and a Turkish flag. Before the vote, Özil had shared a different picture showing him with Erdoğan and reading "We are always with you, Mr President," in Turkish.

On Sunday, 69-year-old Erdoğan won the run-off election against opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Erdoğan received around 52% of the vote, according to preliminary results from the election authority, while Kılıçdaroğlu got around 48%.

Özil made headlines in 2018 when he resigned from the German national team after their early exit from the World Cup. Özil accused leaders of the German Football Association of racism over his Turkish background. He had played in 92 matches for Germany.

Özil, who last played for Turkish club Istanbul Başakşehir, officially retired as a football player about two months ago.