The Ultras behind
Al Wasl's tifos

“Because I’ll tell you something, maybe something the outside world might not understand, but there’s also a personal satisfaction once the result comes out, once you have the social-media awareness spreading, once you have the commentators speak about it. 

“It goes a long way. There’s always a result for the hard work."

They are currently preparing another of their elaborate tifos for the fixture they look forward to the most each season — the derby against Dubai rivals Al Nasr. The result is impressive.

Tifo culture began in Italy about 50 years ago but has since spread around the globe. The large banners or signs must be held up at the same time to correctly display the text or image — sometimes they involve movement to “animate” the display.

Al Wasl’s latest offering comes in two stages. Or three, actually. 

It is a continuation of the story told in their previous Death Note depiction, which was created for the derby in October and drew admiration from Japan’s anime community and even the president of Inter Milan’s Ultras.

The previous tifo focused on a ghoulish figure from Death Note, an anime TV series, who banished Wasl’s football rivals, Al Nasr, to another realm, figuratively speaking, late last year.

In the other world, Al Nasr are to have no respite. This message is made clear with the second part of the tifo, which was put together using plastic sheets laid out on seats before the match and held up by fans before kick-off.

The tifo first read “Zabeel”, the stadium they played in, then changed to say “Hell”.

“Every tifo has a certain message,” says Nazih. “There is no actual harm. Just a friendly competition that opens the doors to other fans so, if they want to respond, they are more than welcome to in a tifo. The question is can they do it? I don’t think so.”

Al Wasl's tifo culture has been around for almost as long as the club's Ultras. During his tenure as the seven-time UAE champions’ manager from 2011, Diego Maradona would, at times, contribute, popping in unannounced to help sketch alongside fans.

In 2018, the Ultras’ first 3D tifo paid tribute to another Argentine, Rodolfo Arruabarrena, after he led Al Wasl back into the Asian Champions League for the second time in their history, and for the first time in a decade.

Afterwards, Arruabarrena said he was flattered since the image made him look more handsome than in real life.

Other standouts include a tifo dedicated to club president Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid and another featuring a moving army plane to commemorate the UAE military’s efforts in Yemen.

“Other teams, every match, they do tifos,” Mohammed says. “This isn’t the idea of the tifo. If you’re going to do it every match, it’s going to become boring. They don’t work. 

“The main idea of the tifo is make it for an important match. Not every match. It loses its impact. With us, every one has a story behind it.”

The Death Note narrative and its theme, stretched across two matches over a four-month period, represents a new take on the tifo culture within UAE football.

In the first display, the protagonist lists in his notebook all the enemies he wants to eradicate; including Al Nasr in the October derby at Al Maktoum Stadium. He also comes up with the tagline “Get Rid Of It”.

It caused a stir far outside of Oud Metha.

“[The tifos] are to support our team, to encourage them to play well, to encourage our fans to give more to the team,” Humaid says. “But also to disappoint the other fans. To make them feel down … and to scare the rival players.”

Rival supporters, meanwhile, apparently seek advice. Al Wasl’s Ultras are happy to give some tips — “but not too much” — and are aware their work is being mimicked. Or, at least, others are trying to copy them.

“We’re impressed only by our work,” Nazih says, smiling.

Others from outside the UAE have reached out for pointers. Fans in Saudi Arabia are keen to innovate. In Oman, Al Wasl’s Ultras provided a tifo for champions Al Seeb to present before their recent President’s Cup final. After working on it for two full nights, the Ultras transported it themselves to Muscat.

They will soon make a trip to Kuwait simply to show top-flight side Qadsia how to create a tifo to their standard.

When North African powerhouses Zamalek played the Egyptian Super Cup final against Al Ahly in Al Ain in October, their fans reached out to Al Wasl’s Ultras to help construct a giant tifo.

It was made in the same Zabeel Stadium car park as each of Al Wasl’s tifos — the tarmac still bears traces of paint — and required two large groups from each club working for four full days. The final product was spectacular. 

Al Wasl's Ultras have also created tifos for UAE national team matches, including an arrangement portraying a message in Arabic before their World Cup qualifier against Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2016.

While tifos in Arabic are more difficult to choreograph, the 2016 display declared “The Dream of a Nation”, running on either side of the 2018 World Cup’s official logo.

“Everything we do is within the vision of how the lifestyle in the UAE is and the values of the country,” Nazih says. “The tifos are always respectful.”

The club's Ultras comprise a core team of about 15 to 20 people, but because membership is open, they don’t know the exact number that makes up the entire group.

As they work towards finishing their latest tifo, the sun sets behind the Dubai skyline and as darkness descends, more and more fans arrive to assist with the final preparations.

“Outside, people think there are no real football fans in the UAE,” Mohammed says.

“They don’t know that people are committed to making tifos and doing these things.

“We’ve been working on this tifo for four, five days. Different tifos, we've worked like 10, 11 days to keep for only one minute in the stadium. To give a good picture.”

Indeed, it’s a remarkable endeavour for a fleeting display.

“Yeah, it’s so much time and work for only a one-minute result,” Nazih says. “But it’s worth it. It’s worth every second we put in.”