Jerseys on display at World of Football exhibition. The star of the exhibition is Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ shirt (first right), among others featured is Beckham’s shirt (second to right).
The “World of Football” exhibition has been officially opened at 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum (QOSM), showcasing over 200 objects, including Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ shirt, which was sold for a record-breaking price at $8.93m at an auction in May.
The opening comes when the country is inching towards hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022. Visitors will be guided on a journey through the roots of football, its history, and the FIFA World Cup, highlighting how the sport can unite people from all backgrounds and cultures.
In a press conference held yesterday, 3-2-1 QOSM Director, Abdulla Yousuf Al Mulla, said residents and football fans will learn more about football, its history and how the “crazy ball” has done to players and the world.
Al Mulla stressed that the exhibition will be “linked to the great achievements that Qatar has already started writing.”
As the museum is built on the side of Khalifa International Stadium, one of the eight stadiums that will host the World Cup, 500,000 people are expected to come, said 3-2-1 QOSM Acting Head of Exhibitions, Aalia Khalid Al Khater. Since it opened in March, a total of 100,000 people have visited the museum.
“We hope that this exhibition is successful enough that people want to recreate it elsewhere,” she explained.
The World of Football is the first exhibition of the museum, it had collaborated with various international museums to deliver it, including the FIFA Museum and National Football Museum.
Al Khater revealed that each ball from the quarter finals for this year’s World Cup will also be on display at the exhibit which runs until April 1, 2023.
Sports Heritage Consultant and Exhibition Curator, Andrew Pearce stressed that football is a great opportunity to tell an amazing story, “a story that starts even before the first World Cup in 1930, begins in England in the middle of 19th century.”
He also highlighted the finale of the exhibition, which features the country’s project ‘Generation Amazing’.
“Qatar is looking forward to using football for social change, so what happens in Qatar in 2022, the football is not finished, it will continue.”
Alongside the star of the exhibit, which are the jerseys of football legends, Pearce said one notable item that is part of Qatar story section is a shirt worn by Pelé, when he came to the country for a friendly match against Qatar’s Al Ahli at Doha Stadium. The game “is quite an important moment for Qatar football history.”
The World of Football is presented into two halves – which is a standard football match. The first half is Football for All, All for Football, which examines the universal and global appeal of football. Followed by The Road to Doha which takes visitors from the first FIFA Men’s World Cup matches in Uruguay in 1930 to this year’s finals at the Lusail Stadium on December 18.
The “extra time” section, History in the Making, will expand throughout the duration of the World Cup, and items from the tournament include footballs, shoes, scarves, tickets, posters, official merchandise, and other objects, are added to commemorate events that make history in Qatar.
