Football: Designing the Beautiful Game at the Design Museum - a treasure trove of stories

The ubiquity of the world’s most popular sport occasionally makes it feel impossible to find fresh narratives about football’s most celebrated players, matches and venues. As a football reporter asked to review the Design Museum’s newest exhibition, Football: Designing the Beautiful Game, I was sceptical about how much I could learn from a show about a subject which is both profession and passion.

But the exhibition, the first of its kind to examine football from a purely design perspective, is a winning combination of style and substance, with many of the 50-plus objects on display coming with fascinating and rarely-heard backstories. It aims to shine a spotlight on the role that designers, architects and fans have played in the history of football, from performance on the pitch to the atmosphere in the stands.

From the two balls used in the inaugural World Cup Final between Argentina and Uruguay in 1930 because neither country trusted the other’s, to the ‘Scouse Bayeux Tapestry’, Peter Carney’s memorial banner to the Hillsborough victims, to images of the Coligay fan display (a Brazilian supporters’ group made up of predominantly gay men in the 1970s), the exhibition is rich in history and curiosities.

Among the intriguing items on show are the professionally-made calling cards of hooligan firms - think American Psycho meets Green Street - and the bespoke recovery shorts worn by England’s players at last summer’s European Championship, which can be fitted with long-life ice packs. Visitors will even learn the full context behind the image of England’s Bukayo Saka jumping into a swimming pool astride an inflatable unicorn during the tournament (the squad was encouraged to have pool parties as part of their rehab