Frankfurt, Germany ? The German soccer team arrived home to a heroes’ welcome Monday as thousands of screaming, flag-waving fans turned central Frankfurt into a sea of black, red and gold.

Despite losing to Brazil, 2-0, in the World Cup final, hundreds lined the streets from Frankfurt airport to the city center as team buses rolled by en route to the official reception at city hall. More than 10,000 fans packed Roemer square.

German soccer fans celebrate the German national team's return Monday at Roemer Square in Frankfurt, Germany. The Germans lost Sunday's World Cup final, 2-0, to Brazil.

“We were winners just by reaching the final who would have expected it? Losing to Brazil is no shame,” said Alex Maier, 22, dancing in the street wrapped in a German flag.

Germans embraced the team because of its strong showing in the finals after a decade of poor performances and stoked optimism that they can win the title when the next World Cup is played in Germany in 2006.

Germany last staged the world soccer championship in 1974 and won it.

Organizers picked 12 cities as game sites: Berlin, Nuremberg, Hamburg, Leipzig, Cologne, Stuttgart, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Munich, Kaiserslautern, Hanover and Frankfurt.

Munich is expected to hold the opening game at a 66,000-seat stadium that has not yet been built.

The preliminary draw to set qualifying groups will be in Frankfurt in December 2003. The final draw will be in Leipzig two years later.

Germany outbid England and South Africa for the tournament. It hopes to put on the kind of show the South Koreans and Japanese did, with facilities to match.

Upgrading the stadiums and infrastructure will cost German organizers and the government $1.49 billion.

That includes a huge overhaul in Leipzig, the only city in former East Germany selected to hold games. Its cavernous but dilapidated Zentralstadion is undergoing an $80 million renovation.

It is also the only city chosen without a team in one of the top two German soccer divisions.

Berlin’s Olympiastadion, built for the 1936 Olympics, is undergoing a $214 million facelift as a historic monument. The 76,000-seat facility is expected to hold the final match on July 9, 2006.

But with the current team’s popularity, there’s little doubt the country will endorse the costs associated with putting on the world’s most popular sporting event. Despite losing to Brazil, fans displayed nothing but jubilation.

Even team captain and goalkeeper Oliver Kahn’s blunder that allowed the first of two goals by Brazil’s Ronaldo seemed forgotten.

“We’re back among the world’s best,” Kahn yelled, drawing a huge roar from the Frankfurt crowd. “Maybe we’ll see you in four years again this time as world champions.”

Many in the square also waved placards scrawled with slogans like “The real winners,” “Too bad we lost-but you were terrific,” and “Rud-ii, we love you” a reference to team coach Rudi Voeller.

The team seemed surprised by the rousing reception.

“I’m asking myself what it would be like if we had won,” Voeller said.