Qatar News Agency
The 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum (QOSM) revealed the details of the exhibition "World of Football" from Oct. 2, 2022, to April 1, 2023.
The exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the beginnings and history of football and the origins of the FIFA World Cup, underscoring the sport's ability to transcend borders and cultures and bring people together.
The exhibition will open as part of Qatar Creates, the year-round national cultural movement that curates, promotes, and celebrates the diversity of cultural activities in Qatar while connecting resident and global audiences with Qatar's creative industries.
Taking inspiration from the structure of a typical football match, the exhibition will be presented in two halves. The first "Football for All, All for Football" examines the universal and global appeal of football. The second "The Road to Doha" takes the visitor from the first FIFA Men's World Cup matches in Uruguay in 1930 to the final in this year's tournament at the Lusail Stadium on 18 December 2022.
The "extra time" section, History in the Making, will expand throughout the duration of the World Cup, as items from the tournament such as footballs, shoes, scarves, tickets, posters, official merchandise, and other objects, are added to commemorate events that make history in Qatar.
Among the exhibition, highlights is the jersey worn by Argentine great Diego Maradona described by many players as the greatest player of all time when he scored twice to give Argentina a 2-1 lead against England in the quarter-finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup. The jersey is on loan to the exhibition after being sold at auction in May 2022, when it became the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever purchased.
Additional objects featured in the exhibition include a football used in the finals of the first World Cup tournament in 1930; the first written account of the rules of football, determining how the sport is played; Pele's Santos shirt from 1973, the year he came to play in Doha; and jerseys worn by some of the sport's all-time greats.
Speaking to the Qatar news agency (QNA), the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum Director Abdulla Al Mulla pointed out that the exhibition provides an introductory overview of the State of Qatar's journey in hosting the World Cup for the first time in the Arab region and the Middle East. In addition to briefing the tremendous achievements that have been built on the way of hosting, especially the stadiums that have been equipped to host the championship.
He explained that the QOSM has carried out many special procedures in preparation for receiving visitors to the museum from fans of the teams participating in the World Cup or guests of Qatar, thanking the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for the great cooperation, adding that the museum will open its doors to visitors during the days when no matches are held at the Khalifa stadium, which hosts eight matches in the championship and it is required to obtain a Hayya card and a special entrance ticket, which will be available through the official website of the museum.
Al Mulla revealed that the museum, in cooperation with the Children's Museum in Qatar, will offer a range of events on the Corniche and in the Fan Zone, and there will also be cooperation with the Ministry of Public Health, the World Health Organization, as well as FIFA through the football academies section.
For her part, the head of exhibitions at the Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum (QOSM) Alya Khaled Al Khater said, during a press conference held today, that the exhibition will tell a wonderful story about the history of football, the beginnings of the World Cup, and will showcase Qatar's unique journey towards hosting the World Cup. She pointed out that the process of organizing a visit to the exhibition during the days of the World Cup will be according to certain controls, especially obtaining a ticket and an entrance ticket to the museum.
The QOSM's exhibitions head noted that the pieces, films, and photographs displayed belong to a variety of local and international institutions, and some of them fall under the framework of loans from collectors. In addition to pieces from the QOSM's football collection, and to represent the global reach of the game, notable pieces from major international partner museums are also on display, including the National Football Museum in the UK, the FIFA Museum, and the National Sports Museum in France.
Vice President and Director of Government and Public Affairs, ExxonMobil, Saleh Saad Al Mana expressed happiness for sponsoring the exhibition, pointing out that the exhibition is a great legacy that visitors to Qatar will be keen to have an unforgettable experience by getting to know the highlights of its rare collectibles.
He added that no doubt about the success of the Qatar World Cup, and at ExxonMobil, support is not limited to the material side, but assistance in many other aspects, expressing happiness and pride to play a role as an active member of the community by uniting local efforts to ensure its success through partnerships that support important activities such a breakthrough partnership.
Sports Heritage Consultant of the "World of Football" exhibition Andy Pearce stressed that the exhibition contains many timeless football models that football fans have known throughout the history of the championships, pointing out that it also includes many inspiring stories about Qatar's journey to hosting the World Cup, talking about the national team participating for the first time in the world finals, and the most prominent stars in the history of Qatari football.
The 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, a member of the Olympic Museums Network, is one of the most innovative and technologically advanced museums dedicated to sports in the world and the largest in terms of area, with an area of 19,000 square meters, the museum, designed by Spanish architect Joan Sibina, takes its visitors on an inspiring and unforgettable journey through the history and legacy of sports around the world and the Olympic Games.
The museum offers multi-angle educational narratives with a comprehensive collection of state-of-the-art technologies documenting the importance of sport in Qatar, including seven galleries that house collections from all over the world, from the earliest beginnings of sports to the present day, the galleries include the hall "World of Emotions," which serves as a reception lobby for the museum, giving an overview of the museum's topics and the main role of sports in Qatar, and the hall "History of World Sports" which is a journey through the history of sports in the world from ancient times to modern times.
The gallery contains almost 100 original collectibles and copies, dating from the eighth century BC to the early twentieth century, combined with drawings, audio-visual and interactive digital elements.