Supporters of HSV decided to celebrate their club's 125th anniversary in a unique way. With budget in excess of €70,000 they've managed to prepare 45,000 banners that created the largest tifo of its kind ever.

It happened on Saturday, when Hamburger SV were facing Hanover 96. Lasted only a few minutes, but those few minutes contributed to HSV's 125-year history like no tifo ever presented by supporters here at Volksparkstadion (or, for commercial reasons, Imtech Arena).

When seeing only the display, one might miss the immense challenge supporters had to match. Members of Chosen Few fan group and volunteers teamed up and worked for weeks to create something no-one has done at a stadium before them. A total of 800 people devoted their time, resulting in over 17,000 man-hours spent on the display.

Together they made 45,000 banners (commonly known as two-poles) for each visitor at the stadium, apart of course from the away following from Hannover. Each piece of fabric was painted individually, but due to the amount of banners needed, they were created using stencils with popular motives that celebrate HSV. Overall, 400 different messages were painted onto the banners with almost 9,000 cans of spray paint.

After the display took place everyone was welcome to take their flag as a souvenir. That applied also to the giant main banner, spanning around the stadium (380 meters or 1,250 feet). The banner read: “Whether it's titles, triumphs and legends, or Zafirov, auto shine or pink jerseys – our history is beautiful and will never end. 125 years of Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V.”.

But allowing the elements to be taken isn't that much of prodigality – storing everything would only inflate costs. And the price tag for this choreo isn't all paid yet. Despite collecting €70,000 ($90,000) among 2,500 fans, Chosen Few still call for financial support as some bills still need to be covered.