“Major Tom”: The national team’s new goal anthem celebrates its premiere in Frankfurt | hessenschau.de

The fans wanted a new goal anthem for the German national team – and they got it. After some confusion, “Major Tom” was heard for the first time during the international match against the Netherlands.

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Some German football fans preferred to celebrate national team goals “completely detached from the earth”. Since Sunday, two and a half months before the home European Championship, signatures have been collected in an online petition for Peter Schilling’s Neue Deutsche Welle hit “Major Tom” to be played when the DFB team scores. As of Tuesday morning, almost 70,000 people had signed.

There was confusion surrounding the DFB team’s international match on Tuesday evening in the Frankfurt stadium. Initially, the association had let the t-online portal know that they wanted to stick with Zombie Nation’s previous goal anthem “Kernkraft 400” for the game. The fans decided on the track in a vote by the DFB in 2019.

Mittelstädt scores, “Major Tom” sounds

But then the U-turn: Some media reported that they wanted to switch to “Major Tom” for the game in Frankfurt. The DFB did not initially confirm this – knowing full well that a goal against the Netherlands would not be a sure-fire success. In the 11th minute of the game there was certainty: Maximilian Mittelstädt scored the 1-1 and “Major Tom” sounded for the first time as the national team’s goal music in the arena.

By the way: The 1980s cult song will not be played as the goal anthem at the European Championships. “The goal jingles at the EURO are the same for all teams and are part of the official song of the UEFA EURO 2024,” said UEFA when asked by Sportschau on Monday with. At least the associations could submit music suggestions for before and after the game.

Promotional videos sparked hype

In further test matches before the home tournament, the national team will face Ukraine on June 3rd in Nuremberg and Greece on June 7th in Mönchengladbach – probably also with the new goal anthem.

“Major Tom” has been heard a lot recently in connection with the national team because the song is played in the Adidas advertising videos for the new jerseys. As a result, clips appeared on social media in which past goals by the DFB selection were accompanied by the song. In the 1982 song’s chorus, “the spaceship floats completely weightless” and “completely detached from the earth.”

Singer Schilling is happy about the recent success of his song. It feels “fantastic that a song that is 42 years old is causing such euphoria among fans today,” he said in the SID interview: “Even when I wrote the song in 1982, I felt that it has a magic.”