5 years – 5 topics – 5 pictures: Part 2 “Museum Life”

Every day our visitors share their experiences at the museum, from discovering their national team jersey in the rainbow to reminiscing over favourite historic football moments. By the pictures they share on social media, we can safely assume that the trophies are the most photographed items in the museum. We love to discover which objects our visitors deem worthy to share with the world.

Football provides a lens to examine many different facets of global culture and contemporary topics. Over the years we have invited a variety of speakers to share their stories in intimate and large settings, including three world champions at once, authors giving insight into their books, and pioneers of women’s football getting the recognition they deserve. The cultural program has offered a wide range of ways to engage with football culture, from podium discussions, football cinema, to special tours from experts, coaches, and players.

Fair play, migration, design and the media are some of the topics we have covered with more than 17’000 students from around 1’000 school classes over the past five years. We also welcomed students to make the museum their own on an open week with 25 other museums in Zurich and partnered with the city of Zurich for an exclusive school day during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Football and art came together during a collaboration with the Rietberg Museum, with students visiting both museums. For the past two years, our communicators have been on site to educate and create connections between the museum and the visitors.

Over the years the museum library has supported countless authors on their research for books and articles and academic work on the topic of international football history and FIFA history. The library is a member of Swisscovery, a new Switzerland-wide network providing access to more than 470 academic libraries in all of Switzerland.

Since its opening, the FIFA Museum has taken part in every edition of ”Late Night at Zurich’s Museums”, where numerous cultural institutions open their doors after hours for visitors to experience their exhibitions in a new perspective. Every year the FIFA Museum has welcomed thousands of people on this night for special programming that has included film premieres, special tours, and pop-up exhibitions. At the last “Late Night” in 2019, we had a special evening dedicated to Maradona, which included displaying jerseys from his youth that are not normally on display.

While the museum is the home of football history, heritage and culture, the adjacent Sportsbar 1904 has been a place to refuel after a visit to our exhibitions. It is also a place to enjoy live football from all over the world and attend events after the museum opening hours. The Sportsbar has hosted countless football themed pub quizzes, movie nights and UEFA Champions League matchdays with live match analysis from our FIFA Museum ambassador Pascal Zuberbühler and FIFA football analyst Chris Loxston.