As the championship drew to a close, Germany looked back on a pitch-perfect tournament that saw a thrilling winning streak for the home side, few hooligans, little violence, a giddy national mood and glorious weather.

Millions of supporters partied through the night across the country after Germany clinched the third-place consolation prize in the southern city of Stuttgart.

Flag-waving Germans decked out in the side's jerseys and began gathering in the early morning hours on Berlin's wildly successful Fan Mile stretching behind the Brandenburg Gate for a heroes' parade for the 'Mannschaft' led by coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

"You are our world champions," the Bild am Sonntag tabloid splashed across its front page. "Third place - but with all respect to France and Italy it is we who feel like the world champions."

It offered cut-out Klinsmann masks for Sunday's celebration and said the German fans should give themselves a pat on the back for putting the country's guests in a month-long mood to party.

"We have the best fans in the world! No one cheered, screamed and suffered for their team like they did. LIKE ALL OF US!"

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Germany had changed its image abroad for the better thanks to a spectacularly successful World Cup.

"The old cliches have been replaced by a new, positive and more fair image of Germany," he wrote in a column for the Bild am Sonntag.

He said the 2006 championship had "beat all expectations", particularly in its smooth organization and that Britain could take a page from Germany's planning as it prepares for the 2012 Olympics in London.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave her own tribute to the supporters, saying Saturday that she did not want to detract attention from the players by appearing at the send-off.

"Tomorrow in Berlin, the team belongs to the fans," she said.

Merkel, never known as a sports enthusiast before the championship, came to symbolize the infectious power of the World Cup spirit as she seemed to surprise even herself by jumping out of her seat and cheering when Germany scored a goal, as the television cameras rolled.

But she dismissed any notion that she was a fair-weather fan.

"I was always a football fan," she insisted in an interview in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntags-zeitung.

"No one was interested before and no one watched me when I watched a game. That's changed since I became chancellor."

Berlin's daily Tagesspiegel hoped the football magic would endure as long as the fond memories.

"In the middle of the night at the Stuttgart Rail Station: A brass band made up of old men in Germany jerseys plays. Croatian and Australian fans come out of the stadium, clapping along. Soon hundreds of them are dancing along the platforms, even the staff. A man wipes tears from his eyes. 'I have never seen my country this way.'

"Everyone experienced similar scenes at the football World Cup...They made us happy and proud that Germany could be such a good host."