The ubiquity of the world’s most popular sport occasionally makes it feel impossible to find fresh narratives about football’s most celebrated players, matches and venues. As a football reporter asked to review the Design Museum’s newest exhibition, Football: Designing the Beautiful Game, I was sceptical about how much I could learn from a show about a subject which is both profession and passion.
But the exhibition, the first of its kind to examine football from a purely design perspective, is a winning combination of style and substance, with many of the 50-plus objects on display coming with fascinating and rarely-heard backstories. It aims to shine a spotlight on the role that designers, architects and fans have played in the history of football, from performance on the pitch to the atmosphere in the stands.
