tifo

[tee-foh]

noun

Chiefly Soccer.

1. a coordinated display, including large banners, flags, and sometimes signs or cards, executed cooperatively or performed in unison by the most fervent supporters and ultra fans in the stadium.

2. an element or elements of a coordinated display by fans in a stadium, especially a large banner raised by ropes and pulleys or spread over the people seated in the supporter section.

   Fans spent weeks hand-painting the canvas of the giant tifo, a 100-foot-long, 60-foot-tall mural they unfurled behind the goal just moments before the start of the game.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tifo¹

First recorded in 2000–05; from Italian; literally “typhus (fever),” hence, “fevered, impassioned support”

Example Sentences

Flares were let off, ticker tape flickered in the air and a stunning tifo rose from the terraces with an accompanying banner reading "For my town, for my club".

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Giant tifo displays of Rangers' Roman warriors pre-match made way for banners reading "This is not a hobby this is our lives" as the game followed a similar European pattern founded on self destruction.

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It was accompanied by a huge tifo of Monty the Magpie, the club's mascot, standing in between two amps.

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The Galaxy approved the giant tifo used on July 4, which featured three Hispanic figures and a message that read, “Fight Ignorance, Not Immigrants.”

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Following their Champions League final win over Inter Milan the Paris St-Germain fans unveil a tifo paying tribute to manager Luis Enrique's daughter Xana, who passed away at the age of nine.

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