Biggest football exhibition of its kind comes to Wolverhampton
Football: Designing the Beautiful Game is being held at Wolverhampton Art Gallery from Saturday 25 May until September.
Last updated 24th May 2024
The biggest football exhibition of its kind, featuring more than 200 local and international football items, kicks off at Wolverhampton Art Gallery on Saturday 25 May.
Football: Designing the Beautiful Game, a Design Museum touring exhibition, will showcase items from some of the game’s greatest players, including Pelé and Lionel Messi, alongside memorabilia from local footballing heroes.
The world-class exhibition opens on Saturday 25 May – FA Cup Final Day – and features objects on loan from The National Football Museum in Manchester and the FIFA Museum in Zurich, as well as from private collectors.
To reflect Wolverhampton’s rich footballing history, items from the Wolves Museum will also be on display while family-friendly activities are being created to add to the fun.
Football: Designing the Beautiful Game is an international touring exhibition by the Design Museum in London which reveals the remarkable design stories behind the world’s number-one sport.
Councillor Chris Burden, Cabinet member for City Development, Jobs and Skills said: “We’re very excited to bring this internationally renowned exhibition to Wolverhampton all the way from the FIFA Museum in Zurich.
“Wolverhampton is a proud footballing city: The Old Gold is famous for lots of firsts in football including being a founding member of the Football League and Molineux hosting the first game under floodlights. But fans of all clubs and all ages will love this brilliant exhibition about the beautiful game which has something for everyone.
“With the Euros kicking off next month, it promises to be a summer of football fun here in Wolverhampton. The exhibition, which is free for everyone, is just one of the many reasons to visit the city so make sure you book your ticket now.”
Visitors to the exhibition can expect to discover how innovation has been used to push the game to its technical and emotional limits.
From the master-planning behind the world’s most famous football stadiums and the cutting-edge materials used in today’s boots, to the graphic design of team badges and grassroots initiatives which push back against the sport’s commercialisation.
The exhibition’s ‘second-half’ features a screening of a film about another of the games’ greatest players – Zinédine Zidane.
Filmed by contemporary artists Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno, ‘Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait’ follows the French star in real time over the course of a single match in 2005.
It’s assembled from footage shot by 17 synchronised cameras and captures Zidane from multiple angles, both up close and from afar, and follows him even when the central action of the match moves elsewhere.
Football: Designing the Beautiful Game, which heads to Wolverhampton from the FIFA Museum in Zurich and following its initial run at the Design Museum in London in 2022, is a rare and fun insight into the people and processes which have made football the game it is today.
Fittingly the event is set to open at Wolverhampton Art Gallery on one of the biggest dates in the footballing calendar – FA Cup Final day on Saturday, 25 May. The exhibition will run until Sunday, 1 September. It is free to enter, although pre-booking is advised.
Fans can watch the film ‘Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait’ at the Gallery from Saturday June 29 to Sunday October 20. Pre-booking is advised for that too.
The exhibition is free and tickets can be booked via Football: Designing the Beautiful Game, a Design Museum Touring Exhibition (ticketsolve.com).