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

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

As they have done throughout this Champions League campaign, PSG's "Ultras" unfurled a giant tifo with a message for the players they hoped would finally put them at the pinnacle of European football.

From BBC • May 31, 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 tifo display was shown as the players emerged from the Ibrox tunnel before Sunday's 1-1 draw.

From BBC • May 4, 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)