Portland Timbers just clinched the Tifo of the Year award right at the end | OneFootball

In what was their final home match of the 2025 season, the Timbers Army managed something that instantly went way beyond the actual game itself. Right before the final whistle, a big banner just flowed out across the North End of Providence Park:

“WITHOUT THEM THERE IS NO US.”

You wouldn’t call this dramatic. There were no fireworks. Just six words.

Major kudos to the Timbers Army here. This wasn’t just another one of those clever tifo things; it was one of those rare moments when the beautiful game actually cuts through all the noise and says something that really matters. Fans and media are already calling it the Tifo of the Year — and I can see why.

At face value, the message was a sort of nod to the players — many of whom have come from just about everywhere in the world to put on the green and gold. That’s not all it was, though.

The banner tapped into the city  and the club’s  deep roots in diversity and inclusion. Portland’s roster this year has players from all over. We’re talking Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Venezuela and a few others. So when the tifo went up, the fans under it waved flags from each player’s home country.

It was kinda beautiful to see but it also meant something. The whole stadium turned into a living, breathing map of the team’s global heartbeat.

The message felt kinda personal, especially when you put it in the context of what’s going on in 2025 America — a time when the immigrant communities are under even more pressure from aggressive deportation policies & ICE crackdowns. The tifo landed like a quiet act of defiance and solidarity, a reminder that immigrants aren’t just part of the story, they are the story.

And that’s what made it work.

What made it unforgettable

Earlier this year, the Timbers Army went all out with the biggest painted tifo in MLS history and it was a showstopper. But this time, they stripped it all back, went very simple. No big portraits, no intricate designs. Just a line of text rising above a sea of different national flags.

Even though there’s no “official” Tifo of the Year award (at least not yet), it would be hard to imagine anything surpassing this one. Even amidst a season of fantastically creative qualities from teams across MLS, Portland’s was uniquely identifiable for its clarity, timing and heart.

Players shared it and even rivals endorsed it.

At the heart of it, this was more than soccer. This was about unity and putting in writing what is most of the time a reality unspoken: the individuals who have helped build the roster and the community. A strong team’s strength is built by all of those putting the work in from players, fans, the people who live in the city, to the people working behind the curtain who come from all over the world.