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A mannequin in a red, yellow and black striped 1914-15 Blackpool FC kit strikes a leather ball beside the George Abdy panel, with a uniformed soldier mannequin on the turf pitch beyond

National WWI Museum & Memorial · Kansas City, MO

The Beautiful Game

A partial turf pitch brings visitors into the history of soccer during World War I. A temporary exhibit displayed during the 2026 FIFA World Cup connected soccer fans with the National WWI Museum — a Fan Fest location in Kansas City.

Upland Exhibits worked with National WWI Museum curators to design a temporary exhibit that showcases soccer's impact on morale during the war effort.

A non-linear exhibit with soccer-related artifacts and a series of life-sized mannequins dressed in reproductions of WWI-era kits.

Client
National WWI Museum and Memorial
Scope
Exhibit Design & Fabrication
Introductory Beautiful Game panels and a red hanging banner in the museum rotunda, with a French soldier mannequin kicking a ball on the tile floor
A panel structure, designed by Upland Exhibits features a soldier mannequin mid-kick.
The Football on the Front Lines panel in the foreground with the Football on the Home Front section and its checkered banner beyond
The exhibit panels were structural and allowed for flexible mounting of artifact cases.
The Beautiful Game introductory panel, headed by a hand-drawn wartime postcard of a football match, with the turf pitch beyond
The exhibit uses bright colors to mark the different exhibit sections.
View across the turf pitch to the A Global War panels and uniform cases, with a modern football boot on a plinth in the foreground
Seen from across the turf pitch — the non-linear layout lets visitors pick up the story from any side.
Two young visitors in red kits view the Football Goes to War panels as a striped-jersey footballer mannequin lunges for the ball on the turf pitch
A mannequin in an olive American service uniform rests a foot on a leather ball beneath the Football on the Front Lines banner
A mannequin in a reproduction uniform with a period-appropriate soccer ball.
A soldier-uniform mannequin balances a football in front of an aerial photograph of a POW camp in the Football on the Front Lines section
"Football on the Front Lines" sets a uniformed soldier mid-kick against an aerial photograph of a POW camp with a visible soccer pitch.
A family gathers around an interactive pedestal with red trench-maze trays wired to a buzzer
At an interactive station, visitors play "Trench Football" — a playable reproduction of a game artifact displayed in the exhibit.
Two teenage visitors concentrate on the wired trench-maze game at an interactive pedestal
The steady-hand game draws a crowd; a case behind displays an original wartime kit.
Wide view of the Beautiful Game exhibit across the museum rotunda, with section banners hanging above the turf pitch and mannequins in period kit

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