Stefan Kuntz’s 1993-1994 Torjägerkanone as the Bundesliga’s top goal scorer and his European championship medals as a player (1996) and as coach of the Under-21 coach (2017) are on display at Historical Museum of the Palatinate in Speyer, Germany. Born in Neunkirchen in the state of Saarland, Kuntz played for 1.FC Kaiserslautern from 1989-1995. (Elisa Kulbe/GDKE)
Crunching tackles, scraps and high-tension moments, big-time goals and celebrations — these moments draw people to soccer.
So, it makes sense the exhibition “Fussballfieber. Derbys im Südwesten” (“Soccer Fever. Derbies in the Southwest) at the Historical Museum of the Palatinate begins with such scenes projected on the walls of the first room. The museum is in Speyer, Germany, about 50 miles east of Kaiserslautern and 76 miles northwest of Stuttgart.
It’s easy to get sucked into watching the highlights of rivalry matches among the big clubs in the Rheinland-Pfalz and just across the Rhine River.
Yet the exhibition — in a city known for its pretzel festival and UNESCO World Heritage site cathedral — is so, so much more.
I am a sports history nerd. I can’t recall stats from memory, but I own 12 books on the socio-political and historical relevance of soccer around the world.
Among those books are “Tor! The Story of German Football” by Uli Hesse and “Das Reboot” by Raphael Honigstein, so I have a decent amount of knowledge of the sport in this country.
Still, the opportunity to learn about soccer in a more hyperlocal sense greatly intrigued me.
And the exhibition delivered — for the most part.
The Historical Museum of the Palatinate in Speyer, Germany, is hosting a special exhibition called “Fussballfieber. Derbys im Südwesten” through May 3, 2026. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Spread across the exhibition “Fussballfieber. Derbys im Südwesten” at the Historical Museum of the Palatinate are display cases holding items from and information about players over 75 years who hail from the Rhineland-Pfalz region. Front left is 1.FC Kaiserslautern and German legend Fritz Walter, while retired German national team player and Landstuhl-born Nadine Kessler is at right. (Elisa Kulbe/GDKE)
Fans of 1.FC Kaiserslautern defaced this poster advertising the exhibition “Fussballfieber. Derbys im Südwesten” at the Historical Museum of the Palatinate, as seen on March 17, 2026, in Speyer, Germany. The crests for 1.FSV Mainz, SV Waldhof Mannheim 07, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and Karlsruher SC are crossed out. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Fans of 1.FC Kaiserslautern celebrate in the Westkurve at Fritz Walter Stadium at the end of FCK’s 4-0 victory over VfL Wolfsburg on May 2, 1998, clinching the Red Devils’ fourth Bundesliga title one season after earning promotion to German soccer’s top tier. This photo is part of the collection “Fussballfieber. Derbys im Südwesten” at the Historical Museum of the Palatinate in Speyer, Germany. (Werner Baum/Picture Alliance)
This display shows the numbers within the German soccer pyramid as part of the exhibition “Fussballfieber. Derbys im Südwesten” at Historical Museum of the Palatinate in Speyer, Germany. (Elisa Kulbe/GDKE)
It focuses on the current professional teams in Rheinland-Pfalz, 1.FC Kaiserslautern and 1.FC Mainz 05, and the Baden region, SV Waldhof Mannheim 07, Karlsruher SC and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
Including Hoffenheim is a choice, considering the general German soccer fan’s unfavorable view of the team — particularly the way it skirts the 50-plus-1 rule regarding club ownership. The regulation stipulates 50% plus one share of the voting shares in the commercial companies that operate most clubs’ professional football teams remain in the hands of club members.
The exhibition explains the origins of the FCK-Mannheim rivalry, which stems from Mannheim crossing the Rhine to use the Südwest Stadium in Ludwigshafen — where the Red Devils themselves played when the Fritz Walter Stadium was under construction — in the 1980s.
Südwest Stadium was also my gateway to learning about some clubs not known outside of their municipalities or German soccer events prior to 1990.
Two teams from the Pfalz, SV Alsenborn and FK 03 Pirmasens, and another from just outside, VfR Wormatia 08 Worms, in the past almost earned promotion to the Bundesliga, German soccer’s top tier. They all played at the Südwest Stadium during those promotion pushes.
Alsenborn’s history is particularly interesting, considering it’s the village club of Enkenbach-Alsenborn from just outside of Kaiserslautern. The club now plays in the eighth-tier Bezirksliga Westpfalz, near the bottom of the German soccer pyramid.
The exhibition highlighted many players and not just Kaiserslautern hero Fritz Walter, although they had numerous items of his, like a couch from his home in the 1970s.
Multiple winners’ medals were on display: a 2014 World Cup gold in the case for the career-leading World Cup goal scorer and former FCK player Miroslav Klose, the Torjägerkanone trophy Stefan Kuntz won in the 1993-1994 season for the Bundesliga’s top goal scorer and the Golden Girl honor bestowed upon Speyer local Jule Brand as the U-21 European Player of the Year in 2022.
Speaking of women’s soccer, I especially appreciated that section. I perhaps learned the most there, such as that the first German women’s champion was TuS Wörrstadt in 1974. Fifteen miles southwest of Mainz, the club’s roster boasted of Bärbel Wohlleben, the “female Franz Beckenbauer” who became the first woman to win “Goal of the Month” from German media.
While many of the displays had English translations, most were in German, including the audio and video displays. That’s unfortunate because it has the radio call of the 1954 World Cup-winning goal and a fascinating video on Wohlleben and the sexism she and her fellow players faced in the 1970s, but it’s all in German.
Still, sports crosses language barriers. You don’t need to know German to appreciate what “Fussballfieber. Derbys im Südwesten” has to offer.
Just don’t wait too long: The exhibition ends May 3.
“Fussballfieber. Derbys im Südwesten”
Address: Historical Museum of the Palatinate, Domplatz 4, 67346 Speyer, Germany
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays plus German holidays
Prices: Ticket prices for the exhibition range from 3 euros for kids 6 years old to students up to 27 years old to 8 euros for adults Tuesday through Friday and 4 to 9 euros on weekends and holidays. Also, tickets to see everything in the museum start at 11 euros for kids 3 years old to students up to 27 years old to 20 euros for adults on Tuesdays through Fridays and 13 to 22 euros on weekends and holidays.
Information: Phone: +49 6232 13250; online: museum.speyer.de
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