Hong Kong picked as site for Fifa Museum as it is ‘amazing starting point’ to Asia

Fifa executives said they picked Hong Kong as the first city in Asia to have an official museum because its status as an international hub made it an “amazing starting point” in the region. Senior Fifa officer Marco Fazzone, who was in the city with 2006 World Cup winner Marco Materazzi for the grand opening on Thursday, also believed there would be more locations around the world in the next decade. The city’s Fifa Museum, which will be open for six months, is one of five operating during the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Alongside the main facility in Zurich, others have been placed in Miami, New York and Vancouver. “From Hong Kong, you embrace the whole world.

It’s vibrant, full of energy here. You have business, sports, culture, design. You have everything here,” Fazzone, the museum’s managing director, said. “Our ambition is to share the magic of football with the entire world. And Hong Kong, for us, with the story, with the city, with the infrastructure, with the member association and partners, here is an amazing, beautiful starting point in East Asia.” Located on the fourth floor of Times Square in Causeway Bay, the museum has replicas of both the Women’s World Cup trophy and the Jules Rimet Trophy, which was awarded to men’s winners until Brazil were allowed to keep it after their third triumph in 1970.

The current World Cup trophy could be available for a limited period in September. Among the rainbow of jerseys on display in the city are the 1966 one worn by Pelé and the 2022 top belonging to Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Other various items on show include one of Pelé’s old passports, the ball used in the shoot-out between Italy and France in the 2006 final, and the boots Olga Carmona wore when she captained Spain to their 2023 World Cup triumph. Individual shirts from greats of the game such as Diego Maradona, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Sun Wen and Alex Morgan can also be seen in 6,000 sq ft space in the heart of Hong Kong.

Interactive experiences allow visitors to test their reflexes in the goalkeeper challenge, put themselves in a referee’s shoes, or get their adrenaline going on the penalty spot. Two Fifa films, The Final and The Path of Champions, will screen in the museum’s cinema, each immersing the viewer in the magic of the World Cup. Hong Kong football was celebrated, too, with recognition for Chan Yuen-ting, who in 2015–16 became the first female head coach to win a men’s professional top-division title as boss of local Premier League club Eastern, and goalkeeper Yapp Hung-fai, the owner of a city-team record 112 international caps. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Fifa Museum has welcomed more than 2 million visitors worldwide since 2016.

In his current role since 2018, Fazzone said more could be expected from Fifa in the future. “There are many countries that are interested in building up, setting up football-related museums at the moment,” he said. “That’s amazing because we support all kinds of cultural initiatives related to football and museums and art. “We’re exploring the best way that we can reach out to people in a fast, efficient way. The rationale behind that is, it’s not expecting the people will come to Zurich from everywhere, but we can reach out to the world.”