After the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, the DFB decided to fund the establishment of a national German football museum from the profits of the World Cup. From 14 cities that had applied as a location for the football museum DFB board elected in May 2007, the cities of Cologne, Oberhausen, Gelsenkirchen, and Dortmund and decided to order for a site in the most populous state North Rhine-Westphalia. In an extraordinary Bundestag of the DFB on 24 April 2009, the delegates chose the downtown area south near the Dortmund Hauptbahnhof, which had been used until the start of construction of the museum as a bus station. Construction of the museum began in September 2012; took place in the presence of DFB president on 20 September, Wolfgang Niersbach and Prime MinisterHannelore Kraft of the ground-breaking ceremony. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on 29 April 2013. Among others Wolfgang Niersbach, Reinhard Rauball and Ute Schäfer were also present in the ceremony. A year later, in 2014, the topping-out ceremony was celebrated.
Land and buildings
The German Football Museum is located close to the main train station and is part of an art and culture mile between the creative center Dortmunder U and the Konzerthaus Dortmund. An architectural competition was advertised for the building.
Architecture competition
Following an international architectural competition announced by the city of Dortmund, three designs were awarded on 4 May 2011 by the jury of the architectural competition from 24 works. A full winning design did not exist. The judges, instead, awarded a price group of three equal awards to architects HPP Hentrich-Petschnigg + Partner, ARGE Petersen BWM Architekten und Partner and pmp Architekten. In addition, the jury awarded recognitions of their work on the office Bolles + Wilson, LOOC / M, and Schulte-Frohlind.
Outcome of the architectural competition
On 29 June 2011, the city of Dortmund and the DFB football museum was announced at a joint press conference that the office HPP Hentrich-Petschnigg + Partner, Düsseldorf and pmp Architekten, Munich equal footing, occupy first place in the international architectural competition. The ARGE Petersen BWM Architekten und Partner, Dortmund, reached third place. Following the recommendation of the jury was in talks the final winning design determined and published on 26 September 2011 in the daily press.
