Fans cheered Germany’s basketball team on their return home Tuesday after winning the World Cup for the first time.

The team, led by tournament MVP Dennis Schröder of the Toronto Raptors, went direct from a long-haul flight from the Philippines to an event on Tuesday morning at a sponsor’s headquarters in Frankfurt. A group of fans, including many children, and German politicians gathered to greet the champions.

“I hope that we can get a lot of children and older people, move them to play basketball,” Schröder told the crowd as “We Are The Champions” played.

In a country where football is the most popular sport, Germany’s World Cup campaign initially attracted little attention until the 113-111 upset win over the United States in the semi-finals on Thursday.

That unexpected victory brought momentum at home ahead of beating Serbia 83-77 in the final on Sunday. Even then, though, the team’s historic success had to compete for attention with the firing of the men’s national football team coach, which was announced in the final minutes of the gold-medal game.

The next step for Germany is next year’s Paris Olympics.

“This group of guys are the best 12 players, the best team, Germany’s ever seen,” coach Gordie Herbert said, “and they’re even better people.”

This year’s basketball World Cup was a tournament of firsts. Besides Germany’s triumph for the first time at the global stage, the tournament also was a remarkable one for the African teams, five of whom won a game at the group stage.

Also notable was Canada’s performance, as they clinched a medal for the first time, that too by humbling the mighty Americans 127-118 in the bronze medal play-off.

The US did not have their ‘A’ team, but they were no pushovers either with a host of players from the NBA. The US are ranked No. 2 in the world and are the reigning Olympic champions as well. That highlights the importance of Germany and Canada’s success at the World Cup and indicates how the game has been embraced successfully by teams all around the globe. Basketball, perhaps, is no longer a US monopoly.

The other teams come with a plan nowadays. Like Germany, who asked its best players for a three-year commitment to the national team. They had a clear blueprint to chase glory at this World Cup and the Paris Olympics. This was the second year of that plan.

A team that didn’t even get out of the opening round at any of the last three World Cups — finishing 17th in 2010, not qualifying in 2014 and finishing 18th in 2019 — now are the world Champions. It’s a well-planned German revolution.

With inputs from AP/PTI