A number of tifos – large banners or coordinated flag displays – were unveiled in the stands during the first few days of Premier League action in 2025/26. Here, football writer Ben Bloom explains what they are and rounds up some of the best.
What is a tifo?
Tifos are thought to have originated in Italy and southern Europe as a means for fans to express their support and inspire their favourite teams and players.
There are usually two main forms of tifos. One type is a large banner featuring a particular image or message unfurled across an entire stand, the other is formed of multiple flags or pieces of card held up by individual fans which, when viewed together, merge like a giant mosaic to form a single image.
The term tifo originates from the Italian word tifosi, which is used to describe a collective group of fiercely passionate supporters, especially in sport.
Although they have been big across mainland Europe and the Americas for decades, tifos are only just starting to become common in English football.
Tifos on display in Premier League's opening weekend
The first few days of the 2025/26 Premier League season featured a number of notable tifos.
Wolverhampton Wanderers paid an emotional tribute to their former player Diogo Jota, who passed away this summer, as did his brother Andre Silva.
Jota spent three seasons with Wolves before joining Liverpool. Ahead of their match against Manchester City, Wolves fans unveiled an image of the forward celebrating one of his goals for the club, alongside the words: "We’ll remember you when you walk in fields of gold."
Sunderland fans marked their return to the Premier League after an eight-year absence by displaying an image of the Lambton Worm, a local myth about a knight named John Lambton slaying a giant worm-like monster.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa fans showed their admiration for manager Unai Emery, by displaying his image alongside the words: "No limits to our dreams".
Nottingham Forest created a colourful mosaic to accompany the words of 19th-century conservationist John Muir: "And into the Forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul."
Meanwhile, after winning the FIFA Club World Cup over the summer, Chelsea unveiled a new banner reading "Champions of the world".
Other memorable tifos
Villa have become one of the Premier League’s leading lights for tifos. Their supporters memorably honoured one of their most famous celebrity fans, Ozzy Osbourne, ahead of their UEFA Champions League match against Celtic in January, when they produced a huge image of the rock singer accompanied by the words "Up the Villa." Osbourne performed his final concert with his band, Black Sabbath, at Villa Park this summer, a few weeks before he passed away.
Man City fans used a tifo to mock Real Madrid’s reaction to Vinicius Junior missing out on the Ballon d’Or, when they unveiled a banner featuring the Oasis lyrics "Stop crying your heart out" and an image of award-winner Rodri kissing the trophy.
Outside of England, Borussia Dortmund’s famous "Yellow Wall" of supporters has produced a number of memorable tifos, none more so than the one featuring a man with binoculars searching for the UEFA Champions League trophy prior to their encounter with Malaga in 2013.
The following year, Galatasaray fans used a tifo to commemorate Graeme Souness’s iconic moment from 1996 when he planted a flag on Fenerbahce’s pitch after winning the Turkish Cup.