National Football Museum, Manchester Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS EXPERIENCE WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST/S FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW.
Reviewed by Elaine Hatch
On 3rd January 2025, I took a trip to the National Football Museum in Manchester with my partner. We are both football fans, my partner perhaps more so than me, so we were really looking forward to seeing what the museum had to offer.
I received great communication from the museum to book my tickets. You are allocated a time slot for arrival (1-hour slot), although, of course, you can stay in the museum as long as you want. I received a confirmation email with a QR code on, which was my entry ticket. I also received a reminder email the day before, confirming my time slot for arrival, and any ID to bring.
The National Football Museum is located in the centre of Manchester, close to the central retail area with lots of places to eat and drink close by too. From Victoria Station, it’s about a 3-minute walk. I would advise going by public transport if you can, to avoid driving into the city itself and the cost of parking.
From the station, head towards the shops and you can’t miss the building and museum – it’s very easy to find, and of course, with Google Maps, it takes you straight to the front door.
The venue, The Urbis Building, is a modern piece of architecture in Manchester City Centre, a massive contrast to the surrounding older buildings, such as Victoria Station.
The entrance foyer is bright and airy. There are two entrance queues, one for pre-booked tickets and one for “walk-in” tickets. There were a small number of people in the “walk-in” queue, however, there was nobody in the pre-booked queue and I simply presented the QR code to a very pleasant member of staff and walked straight into the start of almost two hours of a great football experience.
The museum is split into 4 Galleries:
• Pitch Gallery (ground floor) which is the entrance, start of the exhibitions, café and exit
• Match Gallery (1st floor) where the bulk of the football memorabilia and displays are
• Play Gallery (2nd floor) which is more interactive and there is a great “Penalty Shootout” game for big and small kids to have a go. There is an additional charge for this of £3.00 for 3 shots at goal.
• Score Gallery (3rd Floor) which hosts special exhibitions. At my time of visit it was the “MARKERS” exhibition with specially commissioned art featuring nine football heroes.
The museum also has many access services, some which are to be requested in advance, including:
• Automatic door access at main entrance
• Lift to all floors and ramps to all raised areas
• Accessible toilets
• Induction loops at reception and information desks
• Assistance animals permitted with water bowls available for assistance animals
• Wheelchair hire
• Guided tours
• Large print guide available on your visit
• 130+ disabled parking spaces in the nearby NCPs
To enter the museum proper, you can walk through an old football turnstile, a nice way to start your tour of the museum, and there is a football gate options for those not able to use a turnstile.
The first thing you come across are replicas of the men’s premier league and women’s super league cups with a member of the museum team explaining the history of the competitions and cups along with, (and I’m not giving anything away, as this is featured on the Museum’s website), George Best’s original Mini car, a play area for children and a number of special features and information boards on different aspects of the game.
Taking the escalator up to the Match Gallery, and this is where we spent the bulk of our time, over an hour just looking at rare pieces of football memorabilia, fascinating showcases, and great pieces of football footage and commentary. One of my favourite parts of the visit was the interactive installation where you can listen back to radio commentary from some famous matches in football’s history.
You choose your team, and, through headphones, listen back to the live commentary. For example, being a Manchester United fan, I chose to listen back to Alan Green on Radio 5 on 26th May 1999 when United played Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final.
At the end of 90 minutes, United were 1-0 down, and by the end of injury time, United had scored 2 fantastic goals (by substitutes Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer) and won the final 2 – 1 to become European Champions – a game I remember watching and listening to the commentary from that match, my memories came flooding back. And there were so many other teams to choose from that will have similar commentary, it is a must-do for your visit.
The rest of the Match Gallery is full of so much information, fantastic pieces of football memorabilia and rare items, such as the woollen England shirt work by Arnold Kirke Smith in the first international game where England played Scotland in 1872.
Across the Match Gallery and Play Gallery, visitors are taken through a tour of pretty much every aspect of the beautiful game, I won’t list them all, so as not to tell you everything, but the displays included:-
• The history of the game, including domestic and international team histories, and, of course, when England won the World Cup in 1966
• Football disasters such as the Munich Air Disaster, Hillsborough, Bradford Valley Parade fire
• Hooliganism, including a scary display of weapons confiscated over the years
• A great display of cups and trophies, and the history behind them
• Reporting on football through the years
• Wembley stadium – old and new
• History of England Managers
• Laws of the game and refereeing across the years
• Football fitness, diet, injuries and treatment
• Discrimination in football
As well as the interactive features throughout the whole museum, there are some great ways in which visitors are encouraged to “have a go.”
In the Play Gallery, there is a junior Discovery Zone space, Skills Zone for kids and the very popular Penalty Shootout, as well as Table Football and a giant game of “Operation” to show how injuries to footballers are treated (extra cost of £3 for 3 shots at goal).
After almost two hours wandering around, we made our way up to the Score Gallery and had a wander round the MARKERS exhibition of art. The themes and art change throughout the year, so check the website or when you arrive for the latest showcase.
On leaving, you walk (or lift) down to the ground floor where there is a gift shop and a small café, the Dugout, where visitors can buy a drink and a light bite to eat.
The facilities were clean and accessible throughout, and the staff we spoke to were really friendly and knowledgeable, a great asset to the museum.
The museum, whilst it did get busier during our visit, didn’t feel over-crowded, which must be partly down to the phased entrance time slots given to those who pre-book their tickets.
Pricing information is below, but what I would say, is that entrance fees to the museum are not excessive, and I would definitely consider the cost to be great value for money. Yes, you do have to pay a little extra for the “Penalty Shoot-out” but for a morning or afternoon, this museum will keep any football fanatic entertained.
I would even go as far as to say that you don’t even have to be a football fanatic to find this museum and exhibitions within of interest – football affects so many of us in some way, whether you like it or not, and the themes within the exhibition bring insight and learning about the impact football has on society, individuals, communities and countries.
I would, (and already have) recommend the National Football Museum to anyone, who finds themselves in or near Manchester, particularly, but not exclusively, if you have an interest in football and for kids and adults alike.
I would, without doubt, visit again, as would my partner. The learning and insight into the game, both past and present was fantastic, easy to understand and evoked lots of memories for both of us of going to matches or watching the game on TV as kids with our families and as adults.
Rating: 5/5
The National Football Museum is open daily 10am – 5pm with last admission 4pm.
Ticket price varies ranging from Free to £42 for a family ticket 2 adults/2 children or 1 adult/3 children.
Tickets can be purchased by visiting nationalfootballmuseum.com which gives details of all the concessions available, and if you are a City of Manchester taxpayer, you can get into the museum free of charge (you must bring proof of residence with you – all details on the website).
National Football Museum
Urbis Building
Cathedral Gardens
Manchester, M4 3BG
Tel: 0161 605 8200
Email: info@nationalfootballmuseum.com
Website: nationalfootballmuseum.com