Early on the last Sunday of the last World Cup, a strange legion began appearing on the Unter den Linden avenue in Berlin. Hundreds of thousands of young people carrying German flags waited hours in the heat to greet their national football team. Practically in the shadow of the Siegessäule, the victory column that is the classic monument to 19th-century militarism, this was possibly the largest losers’ parade in history. Germany had finished only third at the World Cup. Germans didn’t care. They have become the world’s first football fans to move beyond winning.

Whether or not Germany win the European Championships final against Spain here in Vienna on Sunday night, most German fans won’t mind much. Other countries’ supporters have begun making the same mental shift. This is a new stage in football history.