Germany's football museum ready for kick-off

The German Football Museum opens its doors to the public this weekend, offering some light relief from a cash-for-votes scandal over the 2006 World Cup.

At a cost of 36 million euros ($40 million), the private venture partially backed by the DFB (German Football Association) will open as a shrine to those who have worn the famous white shirt in football-mad Germany.

The eye-catching, 7,700-square-metre complex in the heart of the western city of Dortmund contains some 1,600 exhibits.

The largest is the Mercedes bus on which the German team rode through Berlin on their triumphant return from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The bus also carried the German team after they finished third at the 2006 World Cup on home soil, which is nostalgically referred to here as the "Sommermaerchen" -- the "summer fairytale".

The dream soured last weekend when Spiegel news magazine alleged the votes of four Asian members of FIFA's executive committee were bought in the race to host the tournament.

The DFB has strenuously denied the allegations.

The scandal clouded a visit to the museum on Monday by DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach, who found himself fending off a barrage of questions on the 2006 World Cup.