“Thank God you’re healthy”
World champion Özil became a father again
Updated April 6, 2026 – 4:12 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Mesut Özil has now withdrawn from the German public. He now shared good news privately.
Soccer world champion Mesut Özil has become a father again. The ex-professional announced this via Instagram together with his wife Amine Gülşe Özil.
The couple shared two photos. In the first picture the child can be seen on a pillow. It is snuggled up in a blanket, its face covered with a heart emoji. Next to it you can see the hands of Mesut Özil and his wife as well as their first two children holding each other.
The name and date of birth of the newborn can also be read on the lower picture frame: Elisa Özil was born on April 2nd. In the second picture you can see the hands of Mesut Özil and his wife again. They hold the feet of their youngest child together.
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Amine Özil wrote about the photos: “Thank God you were born healthy, our beautiful daughter Elisa.” For the couple, the third child is also the third girl. In addition to Elisa, six-year-old Eda and three-year-old Ela also belong to the family.
Mesut Özil, who played for FC Schalke, Werder Bremen, Real Madrid and Arsenal FC during his professional career, and Amine Özil got engaged in January 2019. The wedding followed the following summer. The athlete’s best man was Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
A shared photo with the politician, who was much criticized for his authoritarian style of government, caused a scandal before the 2018 World Cup. Özil, who won the World Cup with Germany in Brazil four years earlier, resigned from the national team after being eliminated from the tournament in Russia. In a three-part statement, the now 37-year-old accused the German media and the DFB, among other things, of racism and a lack of respect.
Since then, Özil, who was born in Gelsenkirchen, has gradually withdrawn from the German public. Today he lives in Turkey and is a member of the executive committee of the AKP, Erdoğan’s party.
