FIFA Museum opens immersive special exhibition on how innovation supports Football

Today the FIFA Museum in Zurich launches its new special exhibition Innovation in Action: Football Technologies on and off the Pitch, offering an unprecedented look at how technology supports the beautiful game.

Developed in collaboration with the FIFA Innovation Team and other FIFA departments, the exhibition takes visitors behind the scenes of the sport. From the broadcast booth to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) screen, from high-speed cameras to wearable sensors, Innovation in Action showcases how technology works hand in hand with players, referees, and fans to strengthen skill, improve fairness, and enrich experiences, without replacing the emotion and human judgment at the heart of football.

“What makes this exhibition truly special is that we can give visitors a never-before-seen behind-the-scenes look that allows them to step inside football innovation, experiencing it hands-on rather than just reading about it,” says Marco Fazzone, Managing Director of the FIFA Museum. “We offer a glimpse at technologies and tools that fans don’t normally get to experience up close, while also showing how innovation has evolved over almost 100 years of FIFA World Cup history.”

Organised around five themed areas — Broadcasting & Media, Intelligent Data, Refereeing & Fair Play, Staging the Game, and the Innovation Lab — the exhibition blends rare objects with immersive, hands-on experiences. Visitors can trace football’s journey on screen from the static black-and-white cameras of the 1954 edition of the FIFA World Cup to the ultra-slow motion 4K footage of recent instalments of the global showpiece, step into a referee’s shoes in a referee view area set-up, and explore how pitch testing processes ensure the perfect stage for the world’s best players.

Among the exhibition highlights is the FIFA Player App, where visitors can explore Cole Palmer’s personal performance statistics with Chelsea FC from the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Final, showing how data is shared directly with players to help them understand and improve their game. Also featured is Canada goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan’s water bottle from the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 that is marked with penalty statistics, showing how information serves as a practical tool in decisive moments. Another highlight is the headset-mounted body camera worn by a referee at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 — the first time these cameras were tested in a FIFA tournament — offering a completely new perspective on officiating.

The exhibition encourages visitors to take on various on and off the pitch roles in which they interact with technology, whether it involves testing their decision-making skills as a referee, acting as a goal-line technology operator to ensure system accuracy, or assuming the responsibilities of a broadcast director tasked with managing the pressure of cutting live footage. Aspiring football analysts can track player movements in ‘real time’, while budding innovators are encouraged to propose their own ideas for the future of the game in the Innovation Lab. These interactive elements ensure that the experience is not only informative but also deeply engaging for fans of all ages.

The exhibition opens to the public today, 1 October 2025, and runs until 31 March 2026, at the FIFA Museum in Zurich. Entry to the exhibition is included with a regular museum ticket.