DFB and City of Dortmund establish museum company

Once the agreements had been formally notarised in Dortmund, Zwanziger said: "Now the work can begin. I am sure the DFB, the German Football League, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the City of Dortmund will deliver a project of huge and unrivalled significance for football. The exciting history and fascination of the game will be permanently showcased in an experience-driven way. The DFB Football Museum will give football in Germany a new and important point of reference."

Dr Langemeyer said: "The DFB Football Museum is a great thing for the people in our sports-mad city and for the entire region. The Ruhr conurbation has a proud football tradition, so the national football museum is in exactly the right place here. It's time now to roll our sleeves up and get stuck in. We will make sure visitors to the new museum get a sense of the 'football feeling' in the Ruhr. They are already most welcome."

The DFB has seconded the general manager of the DFB Sepp Herberger Foundation, Manuel Neukirchner, to the museum company as the management spokesperson. The 41-year-old will be responsible for museum curation, communications, marketing and administration. Michael Kesseler of the local authority planning and building regulations department has been appointed general manager for the City of Dortmund. The 52-year-old public administrator takes on responsibility for construction and project funding.

Dortmund was chosen as the location for the museum by the DFB congress in Dusseldorf on 24 April. The museum will be built on a site to the south of the main railway station next to the City and State Library and is scheduled to open 2013. It will highlight the cultural history and diversity of the game as well as current issues in permanent and temporary exhibitions stretching across a 6,000m² exhibition space.

Also planned is a Hall of Fame and a versatile programme and event space. Total investment costs for the construction of the museum, including the injection of equity capital for the operating company, will be about €30 million by the time museum opens.

The museum name and logo are to be determined by way of a competition.