Space shuttle Discovery arrived at the ISS Thursday with two football aficionados aboard, British-born US astronaut Piers Sellers and his European Space Agency counterpart Thomas Reiter of Germany.

But it was US astronauts Lisa Nowak and Mark Kelly who guessed right. Italy defeated France 5-3 in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 tie in Berlin.

"We're keeping score and we determined that Lisa and Mark won, and Piers and Thomas lost in their predictions," Discovery Commander Steven Lindsey told mission control at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.

"I would like to note that it was the non-soccer players that won the prediction," Lindsey said.

"As is always the case," mission control capsule communicator Lee Archambault replied.