Football Museum Bucharest, first of its kind in Romania, to open November 1

The Football Museum Bucharest, the first of its kind in the country and the only museum dedicated to football in Eastern Europe, will open its gate on November 1.

The museum was built by Bogdan Popescu and Robert Redeleanu with a EUR 1.6 mln investment. The former was the commercial director of Romania’s Football Federation, while the latter is the CEO of multinational telecommunications giant Liberty Global’s Eastern European branch. The two want the museum to bring a mixture of entertainment and education to its visitors and hope that a community will form around it.

The Football Museum stretches over 5 floors on Gabroveni Street in Bucharest’s Old Town, an area that gets a lot of foot traffic from tourists. It features a large collection of jerseys, balls, and medals connected to the history of football, many of them brought to the Romanian public for the first time ever.

“The goal was to open before the World Football Championship,” said Redeleanu, cited by Ziarul Financiar. “This museum embodies a kind of nostalgia that I’ve had since childhood, when I’d be thinking of my favorite team and dream of what would happen. We want to capitalize on Romanian football and bring it out in the open,” he added.

Brought together by their shared love for football, the founders wanted to give Romania its own museum of football, one that would be similar to those in other European capitals. The new museum has a dedicated space for events, a restaurant, and a cafe.

Entry tickets will be RON 49 (EUR 10) for adults, while children will enter for free.

The museum currently houses jerseys worn by Romanian football legends Gică Popescu and Gheorghe Hagi, but also Brazilian football star Ronaldo. The founders aim to expand the collection in the future, integrating more jerseys from players around the world.

(Photo source: Football Museum Bucharest on Facebook)