In the summer of 2006, the Federal Republic of Germany hosted the FIFA World Cup. Under the motto "The World Guests at Friends," numerous national teams, along with their enthusiastic supporters, came to Germany. The matches of the German national team turned into euphoric football celebrations in the stadiums as well as in front of large screens. The Germans identified with their football team, and rarely have so many German flags and other black-red-yellow accessories been sold and displayed as during the World Cup. The population celebrated their team with a cosmopolitan patriotism that had not been expressed in this way before. But how can this sudden and surprising openness be explained? What allowed for the relaxed, natural identification of the Germans with their own?.