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Salih Ozcan
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Lukas Schulze/Getty Images
One statement in German, the other in Turkish: Salih Özcan wants to play for the Turkish national football team in the future.
The 24-year-old from 1. FC Köln explained that on Instagram.
At the same time, national coach Stefan Kuntz nominated the midfielder for Turkey's international match against Italy on Tuesday (8:45 p.m.).
Özcan had previously gone through all the youth teams of the German Football Association (DFB) since the U15s.
"In the past few weeks I've dealt with this question intensively, thought a lot, had a lot of conversations with my family and in the end made a decision with complete conviction: I want to play for Turkey," says Özcan, who is under Kuntz of the German U21 had become European champions in the previous year.
Turkey no longer in the race for the World Cup
Due to his excellent performance in the Cologne jersey in the current season (25 appearances, three goals involved), he was also considered a candidate for an early nomination by national coach Hansi Flick.
Özcan emphasized that it was a decision "that doesn't diminish my respect for Germany and the DFB team one bit".
He expressly thanked Flick, "who had good discussions with me and showed me attractive prospects".
The game between Turkey and Italy is no longer about participating in the World Cup in Qatar.
Both countries missed qualifying for the playoff semifinals on Thursday;
Turkey lost to Portugal, Italy to Macedonia.
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