Football fans in Germany have started an online petition to change the national team's goal celebration song to Peter Schilling's 1980s hit "Major Tom."
As of late Monday afternoon, the petition had more than 45,000 signatures in favour of the song, which talks about a character breaking off contact with ground control and travelling off into space.
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said in a news conference on Monday that he's "open to the choice of song," but added: "I shout so loudly when we score our own goals that I only notice the song later."
Germany midfielder Robert Andrich said that regardless of the goal song, "Major Tom" is "definitely an absolute classic. For us as players it is of course important that we score a goal or two so that we can also play the song."
Schilling said that the fan action was "very moving" to him.
"The fans are the bosses. And when they say they want 'Major Tom' as the new goal song, then they should get that," he told the Münchner Merkur/tz media group.
"The Germans should score as many goals as they can. Football is in my DNA. I'm a huge fan by nature," he said.
"Major Tom" was recently linked with the Germany national team after it was played in the promotional videos for the new jerseys. Germany's current goal celebration song is "Kernkraft 400" by Zombie Nation, which was chosen by fans in a vote in 2019.
But even if the petition to change it to "Major Tom" is successful, it will be difficult to use the song during the Euro 2024 on German soil.
According to dpa information, the goal celebration song is the same for all teams during the Euros and part of the official tournament's song. The participating nations can submit suggestions for songs for the warm-up and after the final whistle.