Clip shows Dortmund fans' salute to city, not tribute to Indonesia

Published on December 10, 2024 at 05:42
3 min read
By AFP Indonesia

After Indonesia kickstarted their hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup with a win over Saudi Arabia, a video made the rounds in social media posts that falsely claimed it showed fans of German club Borussia Dortmund unveiling a giant tifo in support of the archipelago nation's football team. The tifo in fact comprises the colours and coat of arms of Dortmund as well as city landmarks, and was revealed before a match against Eintracht Frankfurt in February 2020.

"Got goosebumps looking at Dortmund's choreography for Indonesia," read an Indonesian-language Threads post that shared the video on November 24.

The video shows an elaborate choreographed display covering an entire football stand. The tifo shows an illustrated bird slowly revealed on a red and white background, resembling Indonesia's national symbol, the mythical Garuda, on its national flag.

Screenshot of the false Threads post, captured on December 9, 2024

The clip was shared after Indonesia stunned Saudi Arabia 2-0 to boost their unlikely hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup in North America (archived link).

The result lifted the team to third place in their World Cup qualifying group with six points -- just a point behind Australia in the second, and final, automatic qualifying position for the tournament.

The clip was shared in a similar post on TikTok after Indonesia's victory, though it had previously been shared on TikTok and Facebook in mid-October after the national football team's unbeaten start to the qualifying stage.

But the tifo displayed in the clip is unrelated to Indonesia.

Tribute to Dortmund

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared clip led to a longer video posted on the verified YouTube channel of the Bundesliga, German football's top flight, on February 17, 2020 (archived link).

"Borussia Dortmund Fans Show Spectacular Tifo On Yellow Wall," read its title, referring to the south stand of Borussia Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the video shared in false social media posts (left) and the video from the Bundesliga's YouTube channel (right):

Screenshot comparison between the video shared in false social media posts (left) and the video from the Bundesliga's YouTube channel (right)

The video's description added it was revealed before Dortmund's match against Eintracht Frankfurt.

The video also shows the tifo morphing to become the Borussia Dortmund crest over yellow and black, the club's colours.

According to an article by German news agency Deutsche Welle, the display depicted Dortmund's skyline and its municipal coat of arms on a background of red-and-white -- the colours of the city (archived link).

"It was more than just support for their football team; it was an outpouring of love for their club, their city, their community, their friends, an expression of the vibrant fan culture which plays such an active role in German football," read the article.

There is no mention of Indonesia in either the Bundesliga's YouTube video or the Deutsche Welle article about the tifo.

AFP has previously debunked false claims related to the Indonesian team that have circulated in the football-mad nation here, here and here.

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