tifo

American  

[tee-foh] / ˈtiˌfoʊ /

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.

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Etymology

Origin of tifo

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

Example Sentences

This year, fans unfurled an extensive tifo display marking the 120th anniversary of the Courrieres mine disaster, Europe's deadliest accident of its kind, which killed 1099 local miners.

From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026

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.

From BBC • Nov. 6, 2025

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

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 18, 2025

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.

From BBC • May 31, 2025

The spectre was the tifo, a plague more dreaded in high altitudes than black vomit in the low.

From The Missourian by Lyle, Eugene P. (Eugene Percy)