Tifo — Mediated Wiki

{{short description|Phenomenon of supporting a sport team}} {{redirect|Tifosi|the 1999 Italian sports comedy film|Tifosi (film){{!}}''Tifosi'' (film)}} {{use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} [[File:Close tifo.jpg|thumb|A basic card display mosaic ''tifo'' at Montreal's old Claude Robillard Centre ground]] '''''Tifo''''' ({{IPA|it|ˈtiːfo|lang}}) is the phenomenon whereby the fans — or ''tifosi'' — of a sports team make a visual display of any choreographed flag, sign, or banner in the stands of a stadium, mostly as part of an association football match,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mlssoccer.com/glossary/tifo|title=What is a tifo?|work=MLSsoccer.com|date=1 January 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116072654/https://www.mlssoccer.com/glossary/tifo|archive-date=16 November 2020}}</ref> although it expanded to include other sports, for example cycling, Formula One, and ice hockey. ''Tifo'' are most commonly seen in important matches, local derbies, and rivalries, and although the tradition originated at football club teams, some national teams also have fans that organise ''tifo'' on a regular basis.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dbu.dk/page.aspx?id=1544 |title=DBU – fra leg til landshold! |publisher=Dbu.dk |access-date=9 March 2009}}</ref> Sometimes sponsored or arranged by the club itself, ''tifo'' is primarily arranged by ultras or a supporter club to show their love to the club.<ref name="Guardian-PORSEA">{{cite news |last=Parker |first=Graham |date=28 June 2012 |title=Portland Timbers' giant tifo throws down gauntlet to Seattle Sounders |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2012/jun/28/portland-timbers-seattle-sounders-tifo-display |work=The Guardian |accessdate=17 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://sportspressnw.com/2221160/2016/schmid-timbers-still-havent-caught-sounders | title=Schmid: Timbers still haven't caught Sounders | author=Andrew Harvey | date=15 July 2016 | publisher=Sportspress Northwest | access-date=17 July 2016 | quote=Last season, Seattle fans mocked Portland with a tifo that read 'Pity'.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2016/07/portland_timbers_welcome_seatt.html | title=Watch: Timbers Army welcomes Seattle Sounders with 'Legends Never Sleep,' Freddy Krueger-inspired tifo | author=Molly Blue | date=17 July 2016 | work=OregonLive.com | access-date=17 July 2016 | quote=As cheers exploded, a red-and-black tifo was rolled out—'Legends Never Sleep,' a play on the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' movie franchise.}}</ref>

== Etymology == [[File:Portland Thorns 2017-04-15 tifo.jpg|thumb|A ''tifo'' combining held shields and multiple hoisted painted banners at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon, U.S.]] The plural ''tifosi'' is used for a mixed sex or an all-male group; masculine singular is ''tifoso'', feminine singular ''tifosa'', feminine plural ''tifose''. ''Tifosi'' ({{IPA|it|tiˈfoːzi; -oːsi|pron}}) is a fandom, or group of supporters of a sports team, especially those that make up a ''tifo''. The term is derived from Italian {{lang|it|tifoso}}, meaning "typhus or typhoid patient" (the two illnesses were often confused, and both were called {{lang|it|tifo}} in Italy), referring to the "fevered" behaviour of the most dedicated fans. The ''Times of Malta'' observed that the English term "fan" sounds similarly odd to Italian ears, as to them ''fanatico'' usually is only used in the context of religious fanaticism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofmalta.com/article/fans-or-supporters.48559|title=Fans or supporters?|first=Times of|last=Malta|date=6 July 2006|website=Times of Malta}}</ref>

Journalist Birgit Schönau traces the term ''tifosi'' back to the 1920s, a time when football fever was spreading in Italy and typhoid fever was also still prevalent in the poorer parts of the country.<ref>Simpson, P., Hesse, U. (2013:296). ''Who Invented the Stepover? And Other Crucial Football Conundrums''. United Kingdom: Profile Books.</ref> Others link it to Greek τῦφος (''typhos'', "smoke"), which is also related etymologically to the disease; historian John Foot states that a derivation from the disease is more plausible.<ref>Percy, M. (2016:196). ''The Salt of the Earth: Religious Resilience in a Secular Age''. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.</ref>

== History == The ''tifo'' culture, like the origin of its name, has its roots in Italy and Southern Europe, and has a strong presence in Eastern Europe. It has much in common with the ultras culture and appeared at the same time, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ''Tifo'', while highly prevalent in Europe,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chowdhury |first1=Tasnim |title=What is a tifo banner? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cy0x4xxrjw3o |work=BBC Sport |publisher=BBC |date=16 April 2025}}</ref> has become more widespread and more common in all parts of the world where association football is played.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} It gained popularity in the late 2000s and early 2010s among Major League Soccer teams in the United States, with some supporters' groups spending up to $10,000 for materials.<ref>{{cite news |date=14 September 2012 |title=U.S. Soccer Fans Turn to Tifo |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444017504577647814039120358 |work=Wall Street Journal |url-access=subscription |id={{ProQuest|1039301946}} |accessdate=14 June 2023}}</ref> The Portland Timbers–Seattle Sounders rivalry has featured some of the largest and most elaborate tifos in U.S. soccer.<ref name="Guardian-PORSEA" />

== Examples == === Football === [[File:Euro 2000 supporters.jpg|thumb|''Tifosi'' of the Italy national football team during the UEFA Euro 2000]] Tifosi is mainly used to describe fans of clubs in football. Apart from the many local fan clubs in Italy, whose main role is for example to provide a meeting place for fans and friends and organize away trips, since the late 1960s, many Italian fans rely on organized stadium groups known as ultras. The main goal is to choreograph fan support with flags, banners, coloured smoke screens, flares, drums, and chanting in unison. For most teams city rivalries, colours, coat of arms, symbols, and the overall iconography have roots in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. A fictional depiction of a ''tifoso'' in football is shown in ''Tifosi'', an Italian film released in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mymovies.it/dizionario/recensione.asp?id=33873|title=Tifosi (1999)|first=Mo-Net s r l|last=Milano-Firenze|website=mymovies.it}}</ref>

=== Cycling === The word is commonly used to describe fans along the roadside at professional road cycling races in Italy such as Tirreno–Adriatico, Milan–San Remo, the Giro d'Italia, and the Giro di Lombardia. Passionate supporters of Italian cycling teams and cyclists are called "the ''tifosi''".

=== Formula One === [[File:Tifosi Monza 2003.JPG|thumb|The ''tifosi'' at the 2003 Italian Grand Prix]] It has become common to use the word ''tifosi'' to refer to the supporters of Scuderia Ferrari in Formula One.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210909-leclerc-calls-on-tifosi-to-help-ferrari-gatecrash-title-scrap |title = Leclerc calls on Tifosi to help Ferrari gatecrash title scrap - France 24| date=9 September 2021 }}</ref> Italian motor racing fans are well known for their love of Ferrari, although they have also been staunch supporters of other Italian cars such as Maserati, Lancia, and Alfa Romeo. The ''tifosi'' provide Formula One with a sea of red filling the grandstands at the Italian Grand Prix. One of the most common ''tifosi'' sights is the display of an enormous Ferrari flag in the grandstands during Formula One weekends at every race circuit, with especially large contingents showing up in Ferrari livery at home and nearby European tracks. A similar sight could be observed in former years during the San Marino Grand Prix, which was held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari near the town of Imola, 80 km (49.7 mi) east of the Ferrari factory in Maranello. The ''tifosi'' stuck by Ferrari during the struggles in the early 1990s, where Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi each won one race, as the front-running teams were McLaren, Williams, and Benetton.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moxon |first=Daniel |date=2022-06-11 |title=Beloved Ferrari icon won just one race before being ousted by Michael Schumacher |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formula-1/jean-alesi-career-ferrari-benetton-27199906 |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=Daily Mirror |language=en}}</ref> The mid-1990s increase in the ranks of the ''tifosi'' can be directly traced to the arrival of Michael Schumacher who joined Ferrari in 1996, after winning two drivers' titles with Benetton, bringing over key personnel like Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne. Schumacher drove for Ferrari until his first retirement at the conclusion of the 2006 season, leading the team to six Constructors' Championship from 1999–2004 and personally winning five drivers' championships. When Ferrari's Charles Leclerc won the 2019 Italian Grand Prix, which was the first time for the team since 2010, a massive crowd of ''tifosi'' went to the podium to celebrate the victory.

As revealed by David Croft during the podium celebration, there is a strained relationship between the ''tifosi'' and Mercedes, who have won at the Monza Circuit from the start of the turbo hybrid era in 2014 to 2018; when a Mercedes driver won the Italian Grand Prix, or made the podium, the ''tifosi'' would boo at the driver. In the 2020s, the ''tifosi'' have again shown appreciation for drivers outside Ferrari. After his thrilling win at Monza in 2025, Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen expressed delight at being "properly cheered" by the Italian fans, and observed that it was the first time he felt genuine support from the Ferrari faithful. Verstappen stated: "The entire straight was filled with people, this was the first time ''tifosi'' properly cheered for me! The last two times I won here, the competition was Ferrari, and they were a little less happy with it."<ref>{{cite web |title=Max Verstappen happy to be "properly cheered" by the Tifosi after thrilling win at Monza |url=https://www.sportskeeda.com/f1/news-max-verstappen-happy-properly-cheered-tifosi-thrilling-win-monza |website=Sportskeeda |date=7 September 2025 |access-date=21 October 2025}}</ref> Of note, the 2022 Italian Grand Prix was marred by reports of fan harassment against fans of Verstappen, and against members of Verstappen's family.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jalopnik.com/formula-1-fans-report-yet-more-harassment-at-the-italia-1849524175 |title=Formula 1 Fans Report Yet More Harassment at the Italian Grand Prix |last=Blackstock |first=Elizabeth|date=12 September 2022 |website=Jalopnik |publisher= |access-date=13 September 2022 |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/135463/misconduct-of-italian-fans-chants-about-verstappen-s-mother.html |title=Misconduct of Italian fans: Chants about Verstappen's mother |last= |first= |date=12 September 2022 |website=GPBlog|publisher= |access-date=13 September 2022 |quote=}}</ref>

The ''tifosi'' in Italy have been known to actually cheer for a non-Italian driver in a Ferrari passing an Italian driver in another make of car.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/f1/ferrari-s-passionate-tifosi-facing-a-miserable-afternoon-at-monza-1.1072401 |title = Ferrari's passionate tifosi facing a miserable afternoon at Monza| date=3 September 2020 }}</ref> At the 1983 San Marino Grand Prix, the crowd at Imola cheered long and loud when Italian Riccardo Patrese crashed his Brabham out of the lead of the race only 6 laps from home, handing Frenchman Patrick Tambay the win in his Ferrari. Patrese himself had only passed Tambay for the lead half a lap earlier. One driver who never actually drove for Ferrari but is supported by the ''tifosi'' is Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser. He drove for the Williams team at the 1988 Italian Grand Prix at Monza substituting for an ill Nigel Mansell. On lap 49 of the 51 lap race, Schlesser was unwittingly involved in the incident at the Variante del Rettifilo chicane that took out the leading McLaren MP4/4 of Ayrton Senna, fittingly handing Ferrari's Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto an emotional 1–2 finish only a month after the death of Enzo Ferrari. Berger's win handed McLaren their only loss of the 16-race 1988 season.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2009/09/your_classic_italian_grand_pri.html|title=Your classic Italian Grand Prix - Andrew Benson's blog|publisher=BBC|author=Andrew Benson|date=8 September 2009|access-date=27 August 2013}}</ref>

=== Ice hockey === thumb|''Tifo'' organized by Djurgårdens IF supporters at an ice hockey game Tifos and choreographies have become increasingly popular in ice hockey around Europe in the 2000s along with ultras and hooligan culture with some of the biggest organized groups in Finland.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-09-24 |title=Näin valmistui Suomen suurin tifo – katso video! |url=https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/nain-valmistui-suomen-suurin-tifo-katso-video/3799804#gs.eableb |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Mtvuutiset.fi |language=fi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-30 |title=Häikäisevä tifo! SaiPa-faneilta upea kunnianosoitus seuralegendalle – "Ikuinen kapteeni" |url=https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/haikaiseva-tifo-saipa-faneilta-upea-kunnianosoitus-seuralegendalle-ikuinen-kapteeni/8277400 |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Mtvuutiset.fi |language=fi}}</ref> Sweden,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-23 |title=Far och son hyllades av Djurgårdens supportrar: 'Rörande' |url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/hockey/a/bgakbg/challe-berglund-och-emil-berglund-pa-djurgardens-tifo |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=Aftonbladet.se |language=sv}}</ref>{{fv|date=February 2026|reason=Link goes to an article with a different title; maybe a broken link? But doesn't seem to support the claim here}} and Switzerland.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-19 |title=Rarement le chaudron de Malley a si bien porté son nom |url=https://www.24heures.ch/cgereportagelhc180424-798155831389 |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=24 heures |language=fr}}</ref>

== See also == * Association football culture * Card stunt * Curva * Football chants * Oranjegekte, Dutch counterpart of Tifosi * Ultras

== References == {{Commons and category|Tifo|Association football tifo}} {{reflist}}

{{supporter culture}} {{fandom}} Category:Association football fandom Category:Italian words and phrases Category:Sports fandom