“Then it takes off and, completely separated from the ground, the spacecraft floats completely weightless.” And – got a catchy tune too? If many football fans have their way, Peter Schilling's Neue Deutsche Welle classic “Major Tom” will soon be played not only at parties and weddings, but also in the football stadium. After every German goal at the home European Championships starting in June.

A user named Max Kirchi launched a petition on the change.org platform on Sunday. He is collecting signatures so that the 1982 hit will become the national team's goal anthem in the future. Many social media users were so enthusiastic about the proposal that the petition quickly went viral online and was widely shared. By the way, also from “Major Tom” singer Peter Schilling himself.

“Remarkable” development

He shared the call, among other things, on his Instagram channel. The German Football Association (DFB) has not yet contacted him, but he has been “faced with inquiries all day”, which is “a very nice feeling”, Schilling told FAZ on Monday. He especially likes that the demand for the song came from the fans themselves. According to the Adidas ad, things went their way and the overall development was “truly remarkable.”

The uproar surrounding the current “Major Tom” was triggered by promotional videos for Adidas' new European Championship shirts, in which the song plays in the background. Soon after, videos of the DFB team playing the song under previous goals went viral on social media, including clips from Florian Wirtz and Kai Havertz's goals in Saturday's game against France.

He “fully supports” the plan to use “Major Tom” as the new gate anthem, Schilling says. It means a lot to him that the German fans “put the song in such focus”. “I would like to thank the fans for this!” By Monday afternoon, the petition had already received over 32,000 votes. The next goal is 35,000. “We want to draw as much attention to the topic as possible and let the DFB notice how much enthusiasm there is for it,” initiator Max Kirchi told FAZ.

At the moment, the song “Kernkraft 400” by the German electronic project Zombie Nation is playing during the scoring of the national team. The song was chosen by the fans in the DFB vote in 2019. That's how it should stay for the time being. As the DFB announced to the news portal T-Online on Sunday, the “Kernkraft 400” will also be played this Tuesday in the home game against the Netherlands in Frankfurt in case of a goal.

But the DFB seems to be taking the issue seriously and discussing it. According to Sky, they want to get an opinion in the coming weeks. However, it is not the DFB that has the final say, but rather the European association UEFA. But one thing is already becoming apparent: when Germany scores goals, the German fans are sure to once again celebrate “completely detached from the ground”.