From an external perspective, there is an allure to the level of simplicity that a game of football can be reduced to—where two jackets and a ball are more than enough to set the stage for an intense contest of skill. This low bar of entry to the sport has contributed to its global appeal and accessibility, especially in developing nations where it was once difficult to obtain the equipment required to compete. Although this perspective holds true up to a certain level, the highly commercialised landscape of professional football today, is a far cry from its humble beginnings in amateur sport, where it is now driven by intense demands for performance, the latest advancements in sports science, and above all else, cutting edge design.

Over the course of its 150-year history, the evolution of association football has been closely tied to design at every step, from the equipment used by players to the arenas hosting competitive matches, and finally, in the imagery used to represent its various offerings. While this association might not immediately come to mind for even the most ardent followers of the sport, design is an indelible part of football as we know it today, and one particular initiative by the FIFA Museum in Zurich, Switzerland, is attempting to illustrate this fact through a curated presentation on view until February 25, 2024.

Titled Designing the Beautiful Game, the exhibition opened to the public at the FIFA Museum, on October 13, 2023. With the aid of a curated selection of multimedia offerings, the presentation examines how design has elevated the standard of the game, enhanced football’s sense of spectacle, made it more inclusive and imbued a visual identity to its numerous eras. In accordance with this structure, the design exhibition is subdivided into three sections: Performance, Identity, and Crowds.

Featuring photographs, equipment, architectural models, and pieces of the actual turf that played host to landmark matches in football history, the catalogue of content constituting the exhibition also portrays the growth of the sport in tandem with technology and manufacturing processes until the present day. The showcase covers many periods in the sport’s development, from benches that date back to the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay, to boots worn by Pelé, and Lionel Messi, connecting threads of football history across generations. Furthermore, the exhibition also explores football’s ties to national identities, as seen through the designs of crests, jerseys, and other pieces of memorabilia. 

Having debuted at the Design Museum in London, as Football: Designing the Beautiful Game, the exhibition ran from April 8 to August 29, 2022. During this time, it was seen as a trailblazing showcase which drew attention to an oft-overlooked side of the sport, casting a spotlight on the architects, designers, and fans who have worked behind the scenes of the global footballing machine. In taking the opportunity to bring the exhibition to Zurich, the FIFA Museum was able to call upon artefacts from their own archives, to supplement this edition of the showcase. Speaking to STIR, Moritz Ansorge, the Director of Exhibitions and Heritage at the FIFA Museum, explains the key themes of Designing the Beautiful Game, alongside the power held by design in shaping the sport of football over the years.

Jerry Elengical: How did you establish this collaboration with the Design Museum to bring the exhibition to the FIFA Museum?

Moritz Ansorge: Initially, they approached us about loaning some of our objects for the first exhibition to look at the game of football through the lens of design. Subsequently, it was the logical next step to bring the exhibition to Zurich and shape it slightly to our location and global focus.

Jerry: What were the challenges involved in adapting the exhibition's narrative to fit the new space it would inhabit?

Moritz: Not only is our space smaller, the FIFA Museum is also a football-dedicated museum, so we scaled down the exhibition—as it was in London—to avoid overlap with our existing content. For example, one of the topics Play was integrated into the exhibition in London, but here in Zurich an existing area of the museum called The Pinball enables visitors to literally play as they exit the exhibition. It is a nice reframing of how it was in London and gives a fresh perspective to our visitors.

Our museum also focuses on international football, so we added in some objects and their stories from our collection. It was a great opportunity to bring some things out of our archive which shines in an exhibition like this, including architectural drawings of Estadio Centenario in Uruguay that complement the original seating included in the exhibition. Our visitors' familiarity with football allowed us to focus on bringing the topic of design to a football museum, which preserves the external perspective of the Design Museum for those viewing the exhibition.

Jerry: What prompted the division of the exhibition into the three segments—"Performance", "Identity", and "Crowds"?

Moritz: The original exhibition had more sections, and at the FIFA Museum, we kept the focus on these three major topics. They look at the beautiful game from micro to macro scale, starting with the people on the pitch and their design of their equipment and movement, expanding outward to the ways that identity crosses over to the fans in the stands, and finally to the massive structures, the stadiums—which create the experience of the beautiful game on a grand scale.

Jerry: Could you elaborate on how the exhibition has explored the advancement of the equipment used by players over the years? How has this contributed to the elevation of the standard of the game across the world?

Moritz: The connection between football and technology is a story that is constantly evolving. The opening section of Performance is a chronological narrative featuring examples of the top technologies for equipment from different time periods. This includes, for example, the introduction of studs, lighter materials, patents to protect innovations, or chip technology in balls. Even the evolution of the humble referee’s whistle is on display for visitors to easily grasp how much it has changed in 150 years. The exhibition also looks at another angle of advancement in equipment—diversity and increasing participation—by showcasing how designs are adapted and adopted by the masses and also equipment that is developed specifically for women.

Jerry: In your view, what are some of the defining moments in the evolution of global football's visual identity that have been showcased in the exhibition?

Moritz: The breadth and variety of fan-produced items are not just a great lens into specific moments in the living history of football, but also very inspirational, due to the fact that they are created by people who would not necessarily consider themselves designers. The (More) Destiny Delivered and Mini Hillsborough memorial banners created by Peter Carney, for example, are living items that travel to the stadiums, and show that fans are at the core of football’s visual identity, both as consumers and creators. The Sky Blue programmes from the 1970s by John Elvin are not only award-winning, they are also a time capsule of Coventry City fan culture, as they were kept by fans as mementos.

Jerry: Among the stadiums featured in the exhibition, are there any that stand out to you in particular?

Moritz: The model of Estádio Municipal de Braga in Portugal by architect Eduardo Souto de Moura, is a testament to beauty and egalitarianism. Built into the side of a mountain, spectators can choose to watch the game from the stands or climb for a view from the surrounding hillside. The drawings of three stadiums by architect Archibald Leitch (for Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Arsenal) highlight the work of one of the earliest architects to focus on football stadium design. His spaces are functional, yet vast, and designed to be built quickly at minimal costs to clubs. You can see the clever use of space in all three, and the tradition of making the away team’s locker room a tad bit smaller.

Jerry: What is the most important aspect of association football brought to life by the exhibition?

Moritz: Design in general is probably not the first thing on the minds of football fans. It has conquered all corners of football, problem-solving, evolving and fundamentally shaping the game as we all know it. It is constantly striving for better technology, materials, structures, and performance. From improved pitches and stadium safety, to innovations in boots and balls, to better training and tactics, football has been fundamentally changed by design and will continue to be.

Jerry: Are there any specific parts of the exhibition that you would like to highlight?

Moritz: There is a really special pair of Adidas boots worn by Matthias Sammer that were modified to look like Nike shoes after he insisted on playing in his own shoes while his club Borussia Dortmund was under contract with Nike. A selection of England jerseys including one issued to George Eastham for the 1966 FIFA World Cup showcase advancements in fabrics and the rise of technical synthetics. The adidas Azteca ball from the 1986 final in Mexico, is on display, to showcase design inspired by the host of the tournament.

Jerry: What do you want visitors to take away from this exhibition?

Moritz: We hope that our visitors look at a familiar and beloved topic from a new perspective. This may help them understand the immeasurable impact of design and how the often anonymous designers behind it, have shaped what football has come to be, what it is today, and what it will be in the future.

'Designing the Beautiful Game' is on view until February 25, 2024, at the FIFA Museum in Zurich.