More than 250,000 jubilant fans have massed at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate to welcome the World Cup winners and new national heroes bringing home football's top prize for the first time to a reunified Germany.
The flag-waving crowd erupted in applause after screens showed the flight bringing the triumphant players to the German capital from Rio de Janeiro touching down.
Crowds began massing in central Berlin before dawn and thousands more supporters gathered on a viewing platform under warm summer sunshine at Tegel airport to meet the plane, a Lufthansa jet rebranded for the occasion "Fanhansa" on one side and "Victors' Plane" on the other.
Captain Philipp Lahm was the first player to emerge, clutching the golden FIFA trophy in one hand and lifting it in the direction of applauding supporters.
Midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, his shoulders draped with the black, red and gold German flag, followed him down the steps to the tarmac, where airport employees snapped photos with their mobile phones as fans cheered.
The players boarded a black bus to ferry them to central Berlin, driving down the so-called Fan Mile as fans cheered from the streets.
The team met with Mayor Klaus Wowereit before taking their place on a giant stage at the Brandenburg Gate.
Germany coach Joachim Loew told fans that they shared the title with his players.
"We are all world champions," he said at the giant celebration.
"Of course we are all overjoyed now to be with the fans."
Germany captain Philipp Lahm hoisted the World Cup trophy in front of the crowd and thanked them all for being there.
"What a mood here, thanks so much to everyone," Lahm said as he passed the golden statuette to his fellow players.
Sunday's nail-biter extra-time 1-0 victory against Argentina marked the first time that a side representing both the west and the former communist east brought home the trophy.
"This is a historic event," said 34-year-old bus driver Bernd Hesse, who managed to follow all the matches in Brazil on the radio when he was behind the wheel.
He noted that Germany fans had waited 24 years to bask in the glory of a World Cup victory, the first since the reunification of the country following three wins by the former West Germany.
"It's not every day that you get to see something like this," he said.
Lydia Lampa, a 28-year-old advertising executive, stopped by the airport with a friend on her way to work.
Wearing a Germany jersey adorned with the coveted fourth star for the latest World Cup win and a Hawaiian-style garland of plastic flowers in the national colours, she said she had watched every World Cup match featuring the Mannschaft.
"This is my way of saying thank you," she said.
"All the games were exciting and I wanted to see the players at least once live. I had a good feeling from the start of the tournament and I thought, 'OK, this time we're going to win'."
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