German Football Museum in Dortmund: The joyful side of the game – SPIEGEL ONLINE

There, where the focus of the permanent exhibition of the German Football Museum is supposed to be where the great emotions pulsate and Mario Götze again shoots his championship Finaltor in Superzeitlzupe says Joachim Löw a beautiful set. Just you got presented 2014 as a visitor of the exhibition a moving video show from the career and the crowning of the World Champion, as the voice of the national coach said: “The unpredictable element is the ball.” Words that are on that day of very special symbolic value.

For in this space that the “golden generation” to Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski and all the other is dedicated to Wolfgang Niersbach is. The DFB President has to fear that football is so unpredictable that the story that is told in this most important section of the museum, must be rewritten. The summer fairy tale of 2006 is something like the founding myth of the reigning world champions.

Tarnished joy with DFB president Niersbach

No wonder Niersbach works hard, joyless. It is his first public appearance since been nurtured in the current edition of the “mirror” of the suspicion that the World Cup was held in Germany in 2006 only because the necessary votes had been bought with dubious funds. And at least from these dubious funds should Niersbach have known, now threatens his official career abruptly come to an end. And this concern is clear to him to look at this appointment that is actually made for the anecdotes friend. He would talk so nice and can tell, but this is now no longer possible. “My joy would be even greater if it were not for these unauthorized charges,” he says now.

The fact that he has to show precisely here publicly, is another of these nasties that Loew probably thinks when he speaks of the unpredictability of football speaks. A few days before the official opening of the museum on October 25, it is unclear what to make of the truths that are found in Dortmund showcased.

If the DFB really that good organization, which is headed by officials who work sincerely for things like equality and the fight against corruption? Is Franz Beckenbauer in fact the radiant figure of light, as he is shown in a cleverly designed display case full of memorabilia? Or are the DFB president, the smiling down from the poster entitled “The heads of the DFB” no better than all the unsavory characters who are in world football to progress for years?

gets in German football museum you no immediate answers to these questions, here it is all about the happy side of the game. Niersbach celebrates the museum as a “project of the century (??), we have something to offer, which has not seen the world,” he exclaims. And probably he is right on this point. After all, unlike in previous football exhibitions and in most museums club here not rampant Devotionaliensammlung is presented. “All exhibits should tell a story,” says museum director Manuel Neukirchner, and that succeeds remarkably well in spite of the mass of approximately 1,600 exhibits.

“The new place of pilgrimage for Germany”

The 20 curators have a mix of points of contact for the reminder of retro aesthetics and sharing information created, which has a great charm. Whereby it is clearly more to the experience than going to the acquisition of knowledge. The exhibits were “with texts, with media, with sound, with style, with light, with sound, combined with three-dimensional images,” says Neukirchner, “the result is the new place of pilgrimage for Germany”.

When it comes on a pilgrimage going to be entertained, above all, the manager of the museum is undoubtedly right. The museum is designed clever, very varied and technically high-end level. On countless screens over 600 film clips are shown with a total running time of almost 25 hours everywhere you can on it press, bring things to light, retrieve video or contemplative but sink into text-heavy exhibition areas. There is a giant playground for football fans. Those who do not just have to bother with this the problems Niersbachs, can have a lot of fun in the chic museum directly at the main station in Dortmund.

How many of such an exhibition but also expects a detailed look at the darker side of the game, will be disappointed. Although issues such as violence amongst fans, doping, right-wing radicalism, betting scandals or the total commercialization of football appear at one point or another, but you have to look very closely to find it. The museum is made for people who like the officials they want in the stadiums: families, tourists, happy flag-wavers, in short, consumers who also are most susceptible to the everywhere in the museum-present advertising messages of the DFB sponsors Mercedes-Benz and Adidas.

The claim to penetrate the phenomenon of football in all its facets, the museum will only meet when clever exhibitions, readings and discussion events complement the permanent exhibition.