Football Museum

The Football Museum in São Paulo, Brazil is dedicated to the country’s passionate embrace of football.

History of the Football Museum

The Football Museum, or Museu do Futebol, contains multimedia displays designed to summon the excitement of the sport. It’s devoted to the practice and wider history of the sport, and was inaugurated in 2008 with Brazilian former football star Pelé in attendance.

The Football Museum is close to the centre of São Paulo. It’s housed inside the Pacaembu Stadium, which was built in 1940 and is one of Brazil’s oldest football stadiums. It features a large exhibit devoted to different editions of the World Cup from 1930 onwards.

The museum features a video room dedicated to the 1950 FIFA World Cup. In the decisive final stage match Uruguay v Brazil, in which Brazil needed to avoid defeat to claim the championship title, Uruguay scored a championship-winning goal with 11 minutes remaining. The recurring term ‘Phantom of ‘50’ refers to the defeat of Brazil at Maracanã Stadium.

The fateful match is commemorated with radio commentary from the game. Meanwhile the Exaltation Room uses projections and the sound of clapping, drums and music to evoke the loud, excited atmosphere of football matches.

The Football Museum today

The stadium in which the museum is housed continues to function. Tours of the museum are available in Portuguese, while independent English tours are also available. The main exhibition is accessible to people with disabilities, while downloadable audio guides are available in Portuguese, English and Spanish.

Getting to the Football Museum

Visitors to the Football Museum can travel on bus 917M-10 from Metrô Clínicas. The museum is usually open from 9 to 6 between Tuesday and Sunday. Given it’s an operating football stadium, it’s closed on matchdays.