Tifo

''Tifo'' () is the phenomenon whereby ''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.

''Tifo'' are most commonly seen in important matches, local derbies, and rivalries, and although the tradition originated at club teams, some national teams also have fans that organise ''tifo'' on a regular basis. ''Tifo'' is primarily arranged by ultras or a supporter club to show their love to the club, but are sometimes sponsored or arranged by the club itself.

''Tifosi'' () is a group of supporters of a sports team, especially those that make up a ''tifo''.

History

The ''tifos'' 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, has become more widespread and more common in all parts of the world where association football is played. 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. The Portland Timbers–Seattle Sounders rivalry has featured some of the largest and most elaborate tifos in U.S. soccer.

Etymology

The plural ''tifosi'' is used for a mixed sex or an all-male group; masculine singular is ''tifoso'', feminine singular ''tifosa'', feminine plural ''tifose''.

The term is derived from Italian ''tifoso'', meaning "typhus patient," referring to the "fevered" behaviour of the most dedicated fans. The ''Times of Malta'' pointed out 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. 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.

Other sources link it to Greek τῦφος (''typhos'', "smoke"), which is also related etymologically to the disease, but historian John Foot states that a derivation from the disease is more plausible.

Football

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.

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

It has become common to use the word "''tifosi''" to refer to the supporters of Scuderia Ferrari in Formula One. Italian motor racing fans are well known for their love of Ferrari, though 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 race, 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'' 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. 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-Honda of Ayrton Senna, fittingly handing Ferrari's Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto an emotional 1–2 Italian Grand Prix result only a month after the death of Enzo Ferrari. Berger's win handed McLaren their only loss of the 16-race season.

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. 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 at Monza 2019, 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 in Monza from the start of the turbo hybrid era in 2014 to 2018. Whenever a Mercedes won the Italian GP, or made the podium, the ''tifosi'' would boo at the driver.

Ice hockey

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 Sweden, Switzerland and Finland.

See also

* Card stunt
* Curva
* Football chants
* Football culture
* Oranjegekte, Dutch counterpart of Tifosi
* Ultras

References

{{Fandom

Association football fandom
Italian words and phrases
Sports fandom