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Best from the Stands – JAN/FEB 2022

“Best from the Stands” is the serie which shows you monthly all the finest moments happened in the global ultras scene. Ultrasbible believes that being an ultras is an art, and on art we decided to lean on for our project. With the partnership of the young illustrator Giuseppe Bonardi, we analyze one of his new artwork containing all of the best shots of last month, in our own style!
Best from the Stands returns with a new bimonthly schedule to bring you inside our favourite moments in the ultras world. Differently from most of the best we saw in the previous episodes, this month isn’t represented by just Europe, and scenes in other continents take an important part of our selection too. Traditional tifo-cities are still widely involved, with special mentions for moments coming from Switzerland and Poland, two cities owning famous and appreciated ultras sides, lately living a particularly lively period. Big football countries (in this case Spain and France) are there aswell, as we see two very diffent methods of creating an athmosphere to stay close to the team; in both cases the results were quite efficent, with good signals from their team and ovverall a remarkable feeling in the home stadium.

INDIPENDIENTE MEDELLIN vs Deportes Tolima, 23-01-2022, Estadio Atanasio Girardot

Who wouldn’t join a fierce hinchada for an unforgettable tifo experience in one of the classic games in South America? With the ultras movement finding luck mostly in Europe with a decennial tradition, it’s still important to be updated on the scene in the latino countries, looking up to Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, and all the other movements, aswell as the two from the biggest and most famous nations of the continent, Argentina and Brazil. And it’s in Medellin, Colombia, where we find one of the most interesting and entertaining tifos of those two months at the beginning of 2022.

The Colombians showed their best dress with an ambitious and remarkable project, bringing a unique banner to cover their whole stadium minutes before the game, both in height and lenght (the whole oval was clothed in it). The result speaks for itself, and it’s a very big plus added to the usual experience in such a warm stadium, with such loud and fizzy fans.
The execution is also something to look up to, with all the people in the stadium being able to collaborate with the help of rods and rope in order to cover all the 45.000 seats of the Estadio Atanasio Girardot, but their work becomes even more notable if you think back of all the realization and carriage problems that such a big and heavy banner can lead to.

Europe already withnessed a similar show with the Dynamo Dresden ultras being able to do the same just a few years ago; their stadium, the DDV Stadion, may present even bigger troubles with the fitting of their banner, but with figures to support, Indipendiente Medellin guys involved 45k people, against “just” 32k people by the Germans.

SENEGAL National Football Team, 8-02-2022, whole country


For the first time in this serie we find in our selection a fanbase from a national football team, and not from a specific club. And the exception comes after Senegal’s first ever victory in the Africa Cup in the 2021 edition hosted by Cameroon. Despite having a respectable football tradition, this country had to wait for so long to get their first continental title, and the scenes were so festive that it looked like the celebration were being prepared since decades. Colours, rhythm, passion and joy all came together in the streets of Dakar and all the major cities of the country, leading to the declaration of a national holiday on the day after the victory. We’ve also been reached out by videos and pictures of European cities (Madrid, Milan, Marseille, etc.) full of Senegalese people celebrating in the streets during that magic night for the Lions of Teranga; a nice example of how football can re-unite, and create communities for everyone, everywhere.

BASEL vs Lausanne, 19-02-2022, St. Jakob Park

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaM131wgX5f/
We waited until deep February days to select our first European choice for those two months edition, as FC Basel gets into its best dress in a classic game at home. A memorable pyroshow lighted up St. Jakob’s Park before the match against Lausanne, creating such a special athmosphere which wouldn’t be possible in a lot of countries due to strict rules against flares and any fires on the stands. But as we know, the Swiss side is looking very modern and entertaining in recent era, and this show crowns a whole month of great condition from the RotBlau. For the whole winter this ultras base has definitly been one to watch in the whole global scene, applying to be selected for our serie in multiple occasions. A few days ago, they also used their last chance in an European match (vs Marseille, double leg in early March) to shine even in an European stage: mission accomplished?

RC LENS vs Ol. Lyonnais, 19-02-2022, Stade Bollaert Delelis


Funny idea, nice display and good execution from the RC Lens boys, which have always been a solid movement in the French ultras scene despite coming from not-so-nice years on the pitch. Recently though, the performances have clearly improved and the team is set to clinch a top flight result in Ligue 1, with big chances of European football next year. Just like that Red Tigers 94 (RT94) group, which has been the biggest and most influent in the recent era, organized a big banner as a political propaganda one, with an actual governmental plan to respect for the upcoming years. Easy ultras rules, against modern football business and collective repression, in favour of a return towards popular football and pyro legalization. We’re in!

ATLETICO DE MADRID vs Manchester United, 23-02-2022, Wanda Metropolitano

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaZSQEhgClE/

Differently from the examples of Basel and RC Lens (previous) and Legia (next), Atleti gets into our selection with a classic choreo using their whole stadium, with permissions and help from their own club. Used to be a fierce fanbase in their old Spanish-styled stadium Vicente Calderon (high walls, open air in multiple sectors), the Atletico boys managed to quickly create an identity in their new Wanda Metropolitano, which works fine for European nights and big league matches. Pumping their team before the clash against Manchester United, the whole stadium collaborated in forming a huge display with an aviator as protagonist, and the words “Vuela Atleti” (=”Fly Atleti) launching the team towards the next turn. A new chance for the Spaniards fans to show their best condition, and reminding us how close they are to a team that in the last year worked well to create a solid bond between the parts.

LEGIA WARSAW vs Wisla Cracow, 25-02-2022, Stadion Wojska Polskiego

Brilliant work coming from Warsaw, with the Legia boys snatching another pass for our bimonthly selection and confirming themselves as one of the most active and influent fanbases in the whole scenario. After some good years during the 2010’s, Legia is now facing a downfall which put them out from the European spots, a very rare bad moment for arguably the biggest club in Poland. And for the fans, being so big and recognized despite the small league they play in, missing out several times on chances to show themselves to the world would be a huge let down. This is the reason why we’re already withnessing disputs and protests choreos on the stands of the Stadion Wojska Polskiego, with the team being currently 20 points short from an European spot in the league. Lots of responsabilites are given to current chairmam Dariusz Mioduski, who fully own the club since 2017, and has been protagonist of the downfall in both economy and performances of club and team. Legia ultras decided then to use a metaphore to explain their feelings about the lawyer leading to this situation, picturing him as a Tinder profile, quoting the 2022 movie “The Tinder Swindler“, bases on stories about an Israeli entrepeneur accused to manipulate individuals with fake promises, to financially support his controversial lifestyle.
Despite the lovely work from our artist Beppe in making Dariusz look charming, we doubt we’d swipe right. Would you?

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Best from the Stands – October 2021

“Best from the Stands” is the serie which shows you monthly all the finest moments happened in the global ultras scene. Ultrasbible believes that being an ultras is an art, and on art we decided to lean on for our project. With the partnership of the young illustrator Giuseppe Bonardi, we analyze one of his new artwork containing all of the best shots of last month, in our own style!

As winter is already knocking on the door our third episode of Best from the Stands gets invaded with northern Europe, which steals the show with the Dutch and Swedish fanscenes committed to keep themselves warm on the stands. Our concept Keep An Eye On ‘Em shows us each weeken how Sweden has a lot to offer during this time of the year, with their league already coming to an end as they use a different schedule to avoid the colder months. Many big and crucial matches are for sure a good chance to get more visibility, and their ultras definitly haven’t lost their chance to shine. Holland follows right behind with many fanbases in particularly fizzy moment. The Southern part of Europe is still proudly represented by a traditional big dimensions choreo, as France sees Marseille shining for the loss of a Boss. Did anything already catch your eye from Beppe’s illustration down here? Let’s get into our choices for Best from the Stands – October! 

AIK vs DJURGARDEN, 03-10-2021, Friends Arena – LET’S PROTECT OUR FUTURE

Very early into last month and we already get what we feel could be the cover of our best moments’ choices.
Rightly so became popular on social medias and themed pages, this AIK choreo depicts a young fan proudly holding his scarf, and what hits the most is the absolute similarity between the picture and the ultras’ artwork. During the last few seasons we’ve already seen Italian ultras leaning on different artists (mainly tattoo artists) in order to make better and brighter choreos, an idea which worked pretty good for wide stadiums such as San Siro or Stadio Olimpico. AIK’s Friends Arena is a completely different concept of stadium and a vertical banner such the one used for this one works just as fine. With that checked, all the rest of the work was focused on making it look as real as possible; for Swedes? Easy as pie, apparently. And Beppe is definitly not far behind!
The meaning behind it closes the circle and allows this choreo into a very short selection of finests; right below the main banner, a sentence to frame it all: “Sla vakt om var framtid” – “Guard our future“, convincing enough.

HAMMARBY vs AIK (W), 10-10-2021, Tele2 Arena – 20k attendance at a Damallsveskan game, new record

https://www.instagram.com/p/CU4yLQ3oWqa/

Just a few days later and here comes AIK’s city rivals of Hammarby winning the weekend with a real European record of 19.000 fans attending a women’s association football match. Last decade has been very important for woman’s football, which saw a general development of the system even in countries which were still out of the map on this topic. Despite not being a proper choreo, this action from Hammarby fans gives us the same vibes as AIK’s previous one; earlier we saw the new youth being praised and protected, while the Bajen have found the perfect way to attract the attention on women’s football just by being there, supporting, sining and jumping as usual. Plus, the aftermaths interest towards the match and the athmosphere there, does nothing but confirm that football without fans is nothing, so well done Swedes fellows!

 

N.E.C. NIJMEGEN vs VITESSE, 17-10-2021, Stadion do Goffert – CAN’T HOLD US

This is the short story of how Vitesse fans can now go around telling they litterally shoot down their rival’s stadium. And that’s what a packed full away sector in one of the biggest rivarlies in Holland can do, after getting a win in your derby. A collective celebration between players and fans got a bit too bouncy for a stand in Stadion do Goffert, and the structure didn’t hold up to the weight. Luckily nobody got hurt in the process, and what we really dig is how some fans kept on jumping and shouting even after the fall!

OLYMPIQUE MARSEILLE vs LORIENT, 17-10-2021, Velodrome – FAREWELL TO THE BOSS

When one of the biggest and most influent fanbases around refers to you as “le Boss“, you can tell you left a mark there. That’s how people from Marseille call Bernard Tapie, who brought them to the top during his chairmanship at the turn of the 80s and the 90s. The former politician, businessman, investor in sports and most importantly in this case, former president of Olympique Marseille, died on the 3rd of October, and his fanbase built up a massive choreo able to cover a whole side of the Velodrome in less than two weeks in order to celebrate him. His not-so-clean criminal records and judicial past leave a doubt on the legitimacy of such a choreo, but the grandeur of this show just couldn’t take second place for us. You can make your own opinion on this topic here or through many others information channels; in the meantime though this controversial Parisien socialist-politician who made his way towards the high floors in such a particular city as Marseille, got his face depicted right into an historical stadium, alongside few other big personalities in other stadiums around the world.

FEYENOORD European nights (vs Slavia Prague, Union Berlin), 30-09 – 21-10-2021, de Kuip – THE MASK SAGA

Last but not least important spot of our October choices goes to Feyenoord, giving a style to their European campaign leaning on the famous ’90s film which sees Jim Carrey as protagonist, The Mask. Both Slavia Prague and Union Berlin have been welcomed in a new athmosphere in de Kuip, with the fans creating two wide choreos covering their whole stands, with clear references to the cult movie, full of catch phrases which fit very well in such works. Feyenoord still has to play one Conference League‘s group stage game at home in mid december against Maccabi Haifa, and with the qualification to the next round already secured, we look forward to at least two more themed choreo in Rotterdam, for another chance to be in our Best from the Stands!

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Best from the Stands – September 2021

“Best from the Stands” is the serie which shows you monthly all the finest moments happened in the global ultras scene. Ultrasbible believes that being an ultras is an art, and on art we decided to lean on for our project. With the partnership of the young illustrator Giuseppe Bonardi, we analyze one of his new artwork containing all of the best shots of last month, in our own style!

The second episode of our serie gathers our choices of the best ultras scenes in September. All the first leagues of the main football countries have come back to normal schedules, with most federations able to assure high percentages of fans inside the stadiums, bringing towards new great athmospheres which we missed for more than a year. Once again Europe takes the totality of the scenes of our five choices for the month, but differently from August’s episode this time we won’t find only choreos, but other occasions where ultras groups gave their best to shine brighter than usual. Let’s see the best from the month just passed with our new episode of Best from the Stands!

ARSENAL TULA vs CSKA MOSCOW, 12-09-2021, from Moscow to Tula – HOT AIR BALLOON

As soon as we saw what these CSKA Moscow guys managed to organize we directly thought to put this into our monthly Best from the Stands, regardless of what will happen during the remaining days. CSKA’s fanbase already showed up with original away days with scooters, very long walks or cycling, but we’d never expected to see them travelling in a hot air balloon, moreover well decorated with the club’s colours, and inside a blanket of smoke coming from the red and blue pyro who accompanied them troughout the whole journey. The fans obviously didn’t fly for the whole distance between Moscow and Tula (where their away game took place), but they met in the close countriside of the host city to take off for about an hour, flying over the stadium and the city center, for a total cost of around a thousand euros. What will they arrange for the next trip?

SLAVIA PRAGUE vs UNION BERLIN, 16-09-2021, Edén Arena, HULK

A nice cinematographic reference coming from the Slavia shore of Prague‘s ultras scene. We’ve already seen plenty of choreos where the red and white showed their skill, and this time they’ve also achieved a decent visibility, displaying it during the Conference League match against Union Berlin (which were also very fizzy on the stands during their first ever European cups’ match). The whole stand deplicted a cloth with the figure of Hulk, painted him in their colours created a worthy athmosphere, adding a banner covering all the low side of their sector with the phrase “Slavia always… always angry!“, and fans on the upper side waving double coloured flags to give movement to the whole set. Apart from the obvious reference to the strong figure of Marvel’s superhero, there aren’t apparently any other reasons why the Czech guys picked Hulk, or felt represented under his banner. But the result speaks for itself, and their team has also been able to achieve good results in European football during the last years. A proper way from the fanbase to urge their team towards new goals!

ZELJEZNICAR, 19-09-2021, Sarajevo, CLUB’S 100th ANNIVERSARY

Zeljeznicar Sarajevo is one of the biggest clubs in Bosnia and of all the Jugoslavian history, and their 100th birthday – celebrated on 19th September – left us some unbelieveable scenes. Despite Bosnia can’t really vaunt a winning tradition in football, their ultras scene has always been up there with the very bests at a European level, with cities such as the capital Sarajevo, Mostar or Banja Luka opening the way for the whole country. Their main ultras group, The Maniacs, supported by many other smaller groups such as Joint Union, Blue Tigers, Vendetta and so on litterally lighted the capital on fire with an immense pyroshow; covering the whole area between the stadium and the city center with flares, fireworks and moving corteos. We’re pretty sure the city didn’t sleep for the whole night, and our artist Beppe was able to well represent their party, fitting them in our September’s Best from the Stands. Happy birthday FK Zeljeznicar!

FC COPENHAGEN vs MIDTJYLLAND – 19-09-2021, Parken, SEKTION 12 15th ANNIVERSARY

Copenhagen is one of the hottest cities when it comes to nordic Europe’s general ultras scene, and this set by Sektion 12 is nothing more than a well appreciated confirmation. The group leading FC Kobenhavn’s tifo turned 15 last month, and we can definitly say they’ve come a long way. Despite not having an ancient tradition in Danish football’s roots – the club borned in 1992 from the alliance of the older clubs B 1903 and KB – their fanscene had remarkably grown during the past years, becoming one of the biggest ones in Scandinavia. These results come from a constant development and interactions between the club and their ultrasgroup, and together they were able to connect all the fans under the same big logo of S12, a certainty for quality and quantity of the scenes since more than a decade. A famous Boca Juniors‘ motto says “La Bombonera no tiembla, late” (=”our home stadium doesn’t shake, it beats”), and with such scenes we think this stands could say the same (and be very proud of it!).

ST. GALLEN vs BASEL, 22-09-2021, Kybunpark, ALBUS SILENTE

Another reference to another very famous cinematic saga directly from St. Gallen, Switzerland! Following the similar idea coming from Prague which we talked about earlier, they decided to pick Harry Potter‘s character of Severus Pitos ahead of the classic match against Basel. Both sides are two of the most historical clubs in the country, and this fixture isn’t new to gift us with memorable moments, such as this last one. With the famous catchphrase “After all this time? Always!” coming from the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and a dialogue between Severus and Albus Silente, St. Gallen gave credit to their rivarly against Basel, being used to play in the first division against each other for several years now. We might also be tempted to wish for a new episode of the famous saga, if other choreos like this one will follow.

 

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