Germany welcomes world champions home

Tens of thousands of Germany fans line the streets of a sun-kissed Berlin to welcome home the World Cup champions

15 July 2014, 12:38pm

1 min read

World champions Germany landed in Berlin where thousands will celebrate the team's win in Brazil

Thousands of German fans gathered in Berlin to celebrate the national team's win in Brazil

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dpa

The football world champions returned home on Tuesday to a heroes' welcome from hundreds of thousands of German fans gathered around Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

The German national team landed about an hour late at Tegel airport due to a delay in the departure of the Lufthansa flight from Rio de Janeiro.

Blessed by balmy weather in the German capital, many people waving flags and wearing black-red-gold garlands had started converging towards the specially-designated Fan Mile area from the early hours of the morning.

As many as 500,000 people were expected to be attending the World Cup party, which saw the team being parading on a black open-top bus featuring the dates of Germany's four World Cup trophies - 1954, 1974, 1990 and 2014.

Germany won their first World Cup as a unified country on Sunday, when they beat Argentina 1-0 at the Maracana stadium thanks to a goal from Mario Goetze deep into extra time.

"Wow, what is going on here? Madness!" tweeted Goetze from the bus as it moved at a snail's pace through the crowds.