Thousands of football fans in Berlin are preparing to greet the Germany players after their World Cup winning exploits in Brazil.
Fresh from their last-gasp victory over Argentina on Sunday inside the Maracana, coach Joachim Low and his stars landed in the German capital at 9.15am on a flight delayed by 90 minutes.
Arsenal and Germany striker Lukas Podolski tweeted from the plane on take-off from Rio and said: “Brazil, I will never forget you. We're looking forward to seeing all our fans in Berlin!”
World Cup winners Germany bid farewell to Brazil as they left their hotel and headed to the airport.
A tweet from the German football federation added: "Auf wiedersehen Rio, thanks for the memories!”
There is likely to be chaotic and jubilant scenes at the airport and in Berlin city centre, with thousands expected to line the streets with the players set to unveil the famous trophy and begin the parade at the iconic Brandenburg Gate.
It has been an incredible few weeks for the Germany team, who began the World Cup by sweeping Portugal aside 4-0 before demolishing the Brazilian hosts 7-1 in the semi-finals which has led to the downfall of coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Phil Thompson has praised the German football association for the development of their young players.
The final was more of a battle against a stubborn Argentina side including Lionel Messi and it looked all set for a penalty shoot-out, only for Mario Gotze to volley in a stunning winner in extra-time as Low became the first man to lead a European team to World Cup glory in South America.
But Bastian Schweinsteiger is targeting further glory with Germany as he looks ahead to Euro 2016.
With a young squad in place, he feels there is plenty of potential there for Germany to go on and win many trophies in the near future.
"This will give us hunger now, absolutely," the midfielder said.
Germany fans will gather at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate
"We want to do it again at the next tournament. The important thing is that the young guys have the experience of this tournament and we will go to France (for Euro 2016) and try and do it again for sure.
"It won't be easy because we have a young team. But we have some players like Philipp Lahm, Mesut Ozil and Per Mertesacker who have the experience. This mix makes a big difference."
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