Mohun Bagan fans prepare record-breaking tifo for ISL clash against Bengaluru FC

Fans of India's oldest top-flight soccer club, Mohun Bagan Super Giant, prepared to unveil a 25,500-square-foot hand-painted tifo when their team hosted Bengaluru FC in the Indian Super League at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Monday.  

A dedicated group of Mohun Bagan supporters had camped out for weeks in a field 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) from the stadium, mounting all-night vigils and constructing bamboo scaffolding to protect their artwork from the elements.

The completed tifo, measuring 340 feet long and 75 feet wide, was set to topple the world record for the largest hand-painted tifo, previously held by supporters of Swedish side IFK Norrkoping, whose banner measured over 16,000 square feet.  

A tifo is a choreographed display created by sports fans in a stadium, often including banners, mosaics, and other elements.  

"We painted it in five parts for 20 days straight," Prasenjit Sarkar, a member of the Mariners Base Camp fan group, told the foreign news agency. Sarkar added that about 20 people worked at a time to complete the artwork, which would be held together by massive ropes typically used to lash steamer ferries to the dock.  

Mohun Bagan, established in 1889, are also known by their nickname, 'the Mariners', and the club’s crest prominently features a sailing boat.  

Subhojit Kundu, an art student from Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh state, travelled 1,000 kilometres by train to participate in the project for a few days. "I couldn’t get a reserved seat, so I didn’t have a seat for much of the journey," Kundu said. "It was quite crowded, and I somehow found some standing space. I only had a small role here, but just being a part of this is a big deal for me."  

Tanmoy Chakraborty, another fan, missed work and commuted 60 kilometres each way almost every day to help mix the banner's colour palette. "I had to find ways to make time," Chakraborty said. "We’d start in the morning and work till 2 a.m. Several people stayed all night to guard it."  

Another supporter, Dipika Manna, shared that the project had taken over a year to come to fruition.  

A spokesperson for IFK Norrkoping told the news agency that their fans did not view making banners as a competition. "They do them because of their love for the city of Norrkoping and the club," the spokesperson said.