VIDEO: Crazy celebrations in Split as Torcida celebrates 70th birthday

Split lights up (Drone Media Hrvatska/Screenshot)

Torcida, the famous supporters’ group of Croatian football club Hajduk Split, has celebrated its 70th birthday on the stroke of midnight by lighting up the city of Split with flares and fireworks.

There were unbelievable scenes in Split as the city was a sea of red as flares and fireworks let off all over the city to celebrate Torcida’s birthday illuminated the night sky.

Renowned for knowing how to celebrate and put on a spectacular show, Torcida’s celebrations tonight even out-did those when the club celebrated its 100th birthday back in 2011.

Torcida was founded on 28 October 1950 by a group of students who were studying in Zagreb. The group decided before a match against Red Star Belgrade that they wanted to stage an unprecedented spectacle in order to help their club, and took the name Torcida from the Brazilian Portuguese word for “supporters”, after fans at the 1950 World Cup at the time in Brazil had impressed them so much.

Torcida, which was started by just over 100 students, and has grown to thousands today, have built a fierce reputation around the world for gathering in the north stand behind the goal at Poljud stadium and creating a special atmosphere via their imaginative choreography, chants, and pyrotechnics.

Torcida has a number of branches in other countries, mostly among Croatian communities, but not exclusively. Torcida is the oldest firm in Europe.

Check out the footage from Split tonight below.