German Football Museum

What German Football Museum does

The German Football Museum (Deutsches Fußballmuseum) is Germany's official national football museum, operated as a charitable foundation (DFB-Stiftung Deutsches Fußballmuseum gGmbH) under the German Football Association and headquartered in a single Dortmund facility opposite the city's main railway station, employing 33 staff. The institution preserves and presents more than 140 years of German football history through a permanent exhibition, rotating special exhibitions (e.g., SUPERHEROES, women's football), the HALL OF FAME of German football, a Schatzkammer (treasure vault) housing original World Cup and European Championship trophies, and a 700-piece collection of match-worn jerseys, complemented by a 3D cinema experience featuring football legends. The product surface extends to guided tours (open, family, women's football, and exclusive formats), structured children's and youth programming (KiTa tours, school class programs, holiday programs, birthday parties, Christmas party packages), the ANSTOSS cultural event program, and a B2B event-location vertical for corporate clients.

The museum monetizes via a unit-priced ticket stack (adult family ticket €16.50, group rate €15 per person for 10+, KiTa €5 per child, women's football tour €19 adult) sold through an online ticketing platform, day counter, and telephone service, alongside on-site merchandise, catering (Bitburger-supported), and venue rental. Distribution is anchored by the transit-adjacent Dortmund location, a multilingual 10-language website, and a Ticket & Hotel package with AOVO. Funding is hybrid: ticket and event revenue is supplemented by federal (BKM), state (NRW), municipal (City of Dortmund), and football-association (DFB, Bundesliga/DFL) support, alongside a corporate partner ecosystem led by adidas (Premium Partner) and regional partners DEW21, Sparkasse Dortmund, and Bitburger. International reach is nascent, with a 2026 traveling exhibition at Holocaust Museum LA timed to the FIFA World Cup marking the first confirmed cross-border content presence.

Name

German Football Museum

Legal name

DFB-Stiftung Deutsches Fußballmuseum gGmbH

Website

https://fussballmuseum.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The German Football Museum (Deutsches Fußballmuseum) is Germany's official national football museum, a DFB-affiliated charitable foundation operating a single Dortmund site opposite the Hauptbahnhof, delivering ticketed exhibitions, the HALL OF FAME, guided tours, youth and educational programs, and B2B event venue services to football fans, families, schools, and corporate clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sports Museum / Cultural Heritage Museum

NAICS

Museums (71211)

akta.pro primary industry

Specialty Museums (e.g., Maritime, Aviation, Sports, Music, Film) (THAJADAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Museum, Zoo & Attraction Gift Shops (CRALAJAG)

Keywords

• Football museum
• Sports exhibitions
• Museum venue rental
• Guided museum tours
• Cultural heritage museum

Headquarters

HQ city

Dortmund

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Admission tickets for the permanent exhibition and special exhibitions, sold online and at the box office. Ticket types include single tickets, family tickets, group tickets, annual passes, and gift vouchers.
2. Guided Tours: Various guided tour offerings including open tours, family tours, exclusive tours, women's football tours, and youth group tours. Tours are priced per person or as flat rates for groups.
3. Merchandise Shop: Online shop selling football museum merchandise, books, and memorabilia
4. Catering and Food Service: Food and beverage offerings on site at the museum's restaurant facilities
5. Event Location Rental: The museum serves as an event venue for corporate events, celebrations, and private functions. B2B section offers dedicated services for business customers.
6. Children's Programs: Birthday parties, holiday programs, school tours, and KiTa programs with specific pricing per child

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The German Football Museum operates a national football heritage museum in central Dortmund featuring a permanent exhibition on German football history (1860 to present), rotating special exhibitions, a 3D cinema, and a sports floor. Around the exhibition it sells tickets, guided tours, school and kindergarten workshops, children's birthday parties, group packages, and rents the venue for corporate and private events, supplemented by an on-site restaurant and museum shop.

Product overview

The German Football Museum (Deutsches Fußballmuseum) is a cultural institution offering a comprehensive football experience through its core permanent exhibition covering 140+ years of German football history, complemented by rotating special exhibitions. The museum's product portfolio centers on visitor experiences including ticketed entry to the permanent and special exhibitions, immersive 3D cinema presentations, and access to the Schatzkammer (treasury vault) displaying original World Cup and European Championship trophies. The museum offers extensive educational and recreational programs including guided tours (open, family, exclusive, and specialized women's football tours), children's birthday parties, kindergarten tours, holiday programs, and school class programs. Additional offerings include the HALL OF FAME honoring German football legends, the ANSTOSS cultural event program, event venue rental services, and on-site retail/gastronomy facilities. The online ticketing platform enables advance purchase of various ticket types including individual, family, group, and annual passes.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HALL OF FAME: Hall of Fame of German football honoring the greatest legends of men's and women's football
• ANSTOSS
• 3D-Kino
• Schatzkammer

Products and services

• Permanent Exhibition — German Football History

Quantifiable outcome

• Family visitors report spending 3-4.5 hours at the museum, indicating high engagement
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered premium partner, partner, project partner and minor.

• adidaspremium partnerStrategic or Co-development Partneradidas serves as the premium partner of the German Football Museum, providing sportswear and equipment expertise. As a leading global sports brand with deep ties to German football history, adidas supports the museum's mission to preserve and celebrate football heritage.
• DEW21 (Dortmunder Energie- und Wasserversorgung)partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerDEW21, the local energy and water utility company based in Dortmund, partners with the museum to support football culture in the region. As a regional partner, DEW21 contributes to the museum's sustainability and community engagement initiatives.
• Sparkasse DortmundpartnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerSparkasse Dortmund, the local savings bank, partners with the German Football Museum as a regional supporter of football culture and community education initiatives.
• BitburgerpartnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerBitburger, the German brewery, serves as a partner providing beverage services and supporting the museum's hospitality and catering offerings.
• DFB (German Football Association)project partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerDFB is the founding organization behind the German Football Museum as a DFB Foundation (DFB-Stiftung). The museum serves as the official national museum of German football, and the DFB supports the institution as a project partner. The Hall of Fame initiative was founded by the museum on DFB's behalf.
• Bundesligaproject partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerBundesliga (DFL) partners with the German Football Museum as a project partner, supporting the museum's mission to document and celebrate German football history at both national team and club levels.
• State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)project partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe State of North Rhine-Westphalia supports the German Football Museum as a project partner, recognizing the museum as a cultural institution of regional significance for the Ruhr area.
• City of Dortmundproject partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe City of Dortmund hosts the German Football Museum as a key cultural attraction, providing municipal support as a project partner. The museum is located directly opposite the main train station in the city center.
• Holocaust Museum LAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partnership for a traveling exhibition at the Holocaust Museum Los Angeles during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, showcasing German football's international cultural engagement.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Real Madrid Museum (Tour Bernabéu): The Santiago Bernabéu Tour & Museum houses Real Madrid's trophy collection, original jerseys, and interactive football exhibits inside a major stadium. Comparable as a premium football museum-and-stadium experience combining heritage with venue visitation.
• FIFA Museum: The FIFA Museum in Zurich is the most direct peer — a national/football-governing-body-backed museum dedicated to global football history, featuring original World Cup trophies, interactive exhibitions, and educational programs. Both are federation-founded cultural institutions positioned as canonical football museums.
• FC Barcelona Museum (Museu del FC Barcelona): Camp Nou's club museum offers a comparable football-heritage experience: original trophies, jerseys of legends, interactive exhibits, and is one of the most-visited sports museums in Europe. Comparable in scope of memorabilia and visitor experience model.
• National Football Museum (Manchester): The UK's National Football Museum is the closest English-language analogue: a national football heritage institution with interactive exhibits, Hall of Fame, original memorabilia, and education programs. Both serve as the official national football museum of their respective country.
• Museo del Calcio (Florence): Italy's official football museum, operated by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), features the national team's trophy collection, jerseys, and educational programs. The peer most structurally analogous to the German Football Museum as a federation-founded national football heritage institution.

Emerging players

• Madame Tussauds (footballer figures): Madame Tussauds locations include wax figures of football legends and compete for the same football-fan tourist spend. Comparable as a museum-format attraction that monetizes celebrity/sports icons through ticketed experiences.
• San Siro Museum (Mondo Milan Museum): The museum inside Milan's San Siro stadium showcases AC Milan and Inter Milan memorabilia including trophies and historic jerseys. Comparable as a club-level football museum with stadium-tour integration, but narrower in scope (two clubs vs. national scope).

Regional players

• Deutsches Museum (Munich): Germany's largest science and technology museum, also nonprofit and federally co-funded. A comparable German cultural-institution operating model with interactive exhibits, education programs, and on-site F&B/retail — though broader in subject matter.
• Bundeskunsthalle (Bonn): Germany's federal art and exhibition hall, a federally funded cultural institution operating themed exhibitions, cultural programming, and event rentals. Comparable in funding structure (BKM support) and operating model as a German federally-backed cultural institution, but broader in subject matter.

Broad incumbents

• Olympic Museum (Lausanne): The IOC's Olympic Museum in Lausanne is the multi-sport federation analogue to the German Football Museum: a sports-governing-body-founded institution with original artifacts, interactive exhibits, Hall of Fame, and cultural programming — operating on a significantly larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fussballmuseum
• Facebookfacebook.com/fussballmuseum
• Instagraminstagram.com/fussballmuseum
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fussballmuseum

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about German Football Museum