Honorary Doctorate for German Football Museum Director

(eap) Manuel Neukirchner (photo), Director of the German Football Museum in Dortmund, will be awarded an honorary doctorate by the School of Humanities at the University of Wuppertal on 2 November. The award recognises his achievements in exploring the cultural dimensions of football on a sound academic basis and making them accessible to a broad audience.

Neukirchner studied General and Comparative Literature, Modern German Literary History and History at the University of Wuppertal. After working as a print and radio journalist, he joined the German Football Association (DFB) and, as Founding Director, oversaw the development of the German Football Museum in Dortmund from 2009 to 2015. He has headed the museum since its opening in 2015.

“The museum has developed into a place that not only presents football from a sporting history perspective but also explores it as a social and cultural phenomenon. Through widely acclaimed exhibitions, publications and interdisciplinary projects, Neukirchner brings together historical research, literature, art and public education,” the University of Wuppertal stated. Dr Matías Martínez, Professor of Modern German Literary History and initiator of the award, added: “The honorary doctorate recognises Neukirchner’s outstanding contributions to the cultural history of football and his efforts to bring perspectives from the humanities and cultural studies into the public sphere.”

© Foto: Deutsches Fußballmuseum Welcoming more than 200,000 visitors annually, the German Football Museum ranks among the most visited cultural and leisure attractions in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). In 2025, the museum exceeded the 300,000-visitor mark for the first time. According to the museum, more than 40 per cent of its visitors come from outside NRW, with over ten per cent of these travelling to Dortmund from abroad.

Among the latest additions to the German Football Museum is an AI-based installation that realistically reconstructs the first goal in Bundesliga history, of which no photographic or film footage exists. The installation thus allows visitors to experience one of the most significant moments in German football history visually for the first time. ■