Tifo, mosaico, oprawa, dakhla: what fans call a choreo around the world

The words everyone knows

• Tifo (Italian): from tifare, to support a team. The word Italian ultras used for their displays, now used worldwide for any organised display by supporters.
• Choreo, choreography: common in Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. In German, Choreo is the everyday word for a big display.
• Card stunt, card display: the English terms for a mosaic made with cards, especially in American college football and in North American supporter culture.
• Ultras: the organised, most active supporters groups, usually behind the goal, who plan and pay for most displays.

Europe

• Curva (Italy): the curved stand behind the goal, and the ultras who stand there, as in Curva Sud or Curva Nord.
• Coreografia (Italy, Spain, Portugal): the general word for a choreographed display.
• Mosaico (Spain, Italy, Portugal): a mosaic made of cards or plastic sheets.
• Oprawa (Poland): the display staged by a supporters group. An oprawa can combine banners, flags and cards.
• Kartoniada (Poland): a display made with cards, from karton, cardboard.
• Sektorówka (Poland): a giant banner that covers a whole sector.
• Kurve and Fanblock (Germany): the stand behind the goal, and the block where the active fans stand.
• Kop (England, France): a steep end terrace, named after Spion Kop at Anfield and used for home ends from Liverpool to the Parc des Princes.
• Virage (France): the curved end stand, home of the French ultras groups.
• Koreografi and tribün (Turkey): the display and the stand. Turkish clubs are known for full-stadium card displays.
• Kerkida, κερκίδα (Greece): the stand, and the community of fans in it.

The Americas

• Mosaico (Brazil): a card display. Brazilian torcidas organizadas stage some of the largest in the world.
• Bandeirão (Brazil): a giant flag pulled over the stand.
• Torcida (Brazil, Portugal): the crowd of supporters, and the organised groups called torcidas organizadas.
• Trapo (Argentina, Uruguay): a banner or flag of the barra, the organised supporters group.
• Telón (Spanish-speaking countries): a huge banner that unrolls over the stand.
• Card section (United States): the block of students in a college football stadium who hold up the cards.

North Africa, the Middle East and Asia

• Dakhla, دخلة (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt): literally the entrance, the display that greets the teams as they walk out. North African ultras are known for huge, multi-layer dakhlas.
• Tifo, تيفو (Arabic-speaking countries): the international word, used alongside dakhla.
• Koreo (Indonesia): short for koreografi, the display of a supporters group; suporter is the word for the fans themselves.
• Tribun (Indonesia): the stand.

Different words, one idea

Frequently asked questions