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Eleven months after the laying of the foundation stone, the German Football Museum in Dortmund celebrated its topping-out ceremony on Friday. Among those taking part in the ceremony were DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach, Dortmund mayor Ullrich Sierau, North Rhine-Westphalia minister for sport Uta Schäfer, national team head coach Joachim Löw and around 200 guests from the worlds of sport, politics and society.
Home to a highly experience-driven, multimedia-based permanent exhibition on the history of German football, the museum building, designed by HPP Architects of Dusseldorf, is due to open in the first half of 2015. The construction work is on schedule and within budget.
In her welcoming remarks the NRW minister for sport, Uta Schäfer, said: "The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is an excellent location for the German Football Museum because football is lived and loved here. The museum will thus be a great showpiece for Dortmund as well as an advert for football and all the other museums across North Rhine-Westphalia.
DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach said: "A big thank you must go to the tradesmen and women whose commitment is enabling us to make our idea of a home for German football history a reality. It is impressive to see how the specifications of the exhibition concept have been translated in architectural terms."
Dortmund mayor Ullrich Sierau said: "Many hours of work have been put in under floodlights on the building site. That is in keeping with the football theme, of course, and is testimony to the fantastic effort made by everyone involved. The museum building is already a wonderful addition to the art and culture quarter."
The City of Dortmund made the city-centre plot available as part of the bidding process for the football museum site. For its part the DFB provided funds from the 2006 World Cup surplus and sponsorship income totalling €17.5 million. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia contributed a further €18.5 million, with total building costs amounting to €36 million, as originally projected.
The client for the build is the not-for-profit DFB German Football Museum Foundation, whose members are the City of Dortmund and the DFB, each with an equal contribution. The 7,700m² building structure was erected using 4,000m³ of concrete and 800 tonnes of steel. Work on the roof and external walls is due to be finished by the end of the year, when work on fitting out the interior and installing the building services will commence. Installation of the exhibition fixtures is scheduled for early 2015.
During the topping-out ceremony sports products manufacturer adidas and carmaker Mercedes-Benz were unveiled as premium partners to the German Football Museum.
