Overview
- The documentary, titled "Mesut Özil – zu Gast bei Freunden," streams on ZDF-Mediathek from 20 March and debuts on linear TV on 31 March at 20:15.
- ZDF frames the production as more than sport, tracing Özil’s rise and the public rupture after a 2018 photo with Turkey’s president as a story about identity and exclusion.
- Contributors include Joachim Löw, Oliver Bierhoff, Per Mertesacker, Özil’s father Mustafa, former DFB president Reinhard Grindel, and journalist Deniz Yücel.
- Director Florian Opitz says several participants initially refused on-camera interviews, highlighting the continuing sensitivities around the topic.
- DWDL reports that episode one airs in prime time, parts two and three follow after midnight, and the series features excerpts from an Özil interview not previously shown on German TV.