The German Football Museum in Dortmund
Everything about the legendary leather ball can be found in the German Football Museum in Dortmund. Directly opposite the main station is the place of pilgrimage for football fans and those who want to become one.
A 60-year-old soccer ball
This ball earned its scuffs in nominally neutral Switzerland in a Cold War World Cup matchup between the West Germans and Hungary. All three German national teams - East, West and the Saar Protectorate - were forced to sit out the 1950 Cup following World War II, so 1954 marked the reunited West Germany's return to international competition - and West Germany's first world championship.
All about the ball
It took 36 million euros ($41 million), 800 tons of steel and nine years from concept to completion. The German Football Museum (DFM) will add a splash of national tricolor to otherwise drab downtown Dortmund.
1954: The first of four world championships
The Bern miracle pays tribute to the men who brought Germany's first World Cup home from neighboring Switzerland in 1954 - and also serves to show how much the body types of footballers have changed over the decades.
Conspicuous absence
Halftime comes early at the museum. Aside from the front-and-center artifacts - including the official luggage of the men's team - more serious history on the flanks details football under the Third Reich and the former socialist German Democratic Republic. Highly successful, but not pictured: women's football.
Planet football
Four meters (13 feet) in diameter, this giant illuminated football serves as the German Football Association's icon to itself and the national team that it has cobbled together. Oohs-and-ahhs footage of German glory plays on the giant ball's surface. Even those concerned by the indoctrinating allure of national team sports will enjoy it.
Treasure chest of trophies
A bit of a let-down after two action-packed films that feature the saves and shots that brought German football its most recent world glory, the trophy room displays replicas of the fruits of the national team's international conquests.
Rest, but no relief
Once one enters the exhibition space, there is no place to sit and tune out the museum's multimedia. You can park it for a bit on these attractive-looking stadium-style seats, but you'll have to ride a slow-spinning carousel and watch slapstick moments from German football history screen on the walls.
Games inspired by the game
Do your football instincts match up against the preprogrammed questions and answers on this series of consoles? Probably, but this most interactive bit of the museum is worth a visit all the same.