National Football Museum

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The National Football Museum is a museum in Preston, England, founded to preserve, conserve and interpret several important collections of association football memorabilia.

1 Collections
2 Research
3 Exhibitions
4 Visitors
5 Publications
6 Praise
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Collections

Located at the Deepdale stadium in Preston, the museum opened in June 2001. It is an independent charity holding the following collections:

The FIFA Museum Collection
The Football Association Collection
The Football League Collection.
The Wembley Stadium Collection.
The FIFA Book Collection
The People’s Collection
The Preston North End F.C. Collection
The Harry Langton Collection
The Sir Stanley Matthews Collection
The Littlewoods Collection

At any time, around 2,000 items from the Museum’s collections are on display, with a further 30,000 items held. Key items include:

One of the two balls used in the first World Cup Final in 1930.
The ball from the 1966 World Cup Final.
The replica of the Jules Rimet Trophy, made in secret by the FA in 1966 after the original was stolen, and paraded by the England players at the World Cup Final in 1966.
The England captain’s jersey and cap from the world’s first official international football match, England v Scotland, in 1872.
The world’s oldest women’s football kit, from the 1890s.

[edit] Research

The National Football Museum, in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), has launched the International Football Institute (IFI). The IFI's purpose is to "undertake research on all aspects of football and make this research available to the widest possible audience".

[edit] Exhibitions

Many exhibits are loaned to museums in the UK and artefacts have been loaned to exhibitions in Germany, Portugal, Switzerland and Belgium. The Museum has worked in partnership with UEFA to create the UEFA Jubilee Exhibition, which opened in the European Parliament in Brussels, before moving to the National Football Museum. The Museum also worked with UEFA to create the world’s first exhibition dedicated to women’s football, to coincide with the UEFA Euro 2005 Women’s Championship. To mark the FIFA 2006 World Cup the museum is working with partners to develop exhibitions in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Germany.

[edit] Visitors

The museum is a premier visitor attraction in Preston, and with free entry it attracts football fans from across the world. Between July 2004 and June 2005 the museum attracted 107,000 visitors and had just over 19,000 children in the Museum's education and outreach programmes. The Museum received the award of Large Visitor Attraction of the Year, at the 2005/06 Lancashire and Blackpool Tourism Awards.

[edit] Publications

The Museum has made the following publications:

Eyewitness Football, published by Dorling Kindersley: Sold over 50,000 copies worldwide and has been revised and updated for a paperback edition
Football's Greatest Heroes: The National Football Museum Hall of Fame, published by Robson Books: Book based on the Hall of Fame.

[edit] Praise

Joseph Blatter, the President of FIFA commented:, “The National Football Museum merits my admiration as a footballer and as the President of FIFA – it is a superb realisation, a real jewel!”
“I can’t think of a better Museum anywhere in the world.” Sir Bobby Charlton, President of The National Football Museum

[edit] See also

English Football Hall of Fame which is housed at the museum

[edit] External links

Football in England

v • d • e

League competitions	The FA	Cup competitions
FA Premier League	England	FA Cup
The Football League (Champ, 1, 2)	(U-21) (B)	Carling Cup
Football Conference (Nat, N, S)	List of clubs	Community Shield
Northern Premier League (Prem, 1)	List of venues	Johnstone's Paint Trophy
Southern League (Prem, Mid, S&W)	(by capacity)	FA Trophy
Isthmian League (Prem, 1N, 1S)	List of leagues	FA Vase
English football league system	Records	FA NLS Cup