Football as a Platform for Ethnic Identity Assertion: Tractor FC and the Ethnic Mobilization Dynamics of Azerbaijanis in Iran

Abstract

This study examines how a football club can serve as the primary public arena for identity mobilization under political constraint, focusing on Tractor FC and Azerbaijani supporters in Iran. Existing research documents the club's role in expressing Azerbaijani identity but remains descriptive, with limited explanation of how mobilization is sustained. To address this gap, the paper develops the Sport-Based Identity Mobilization Model (SIMM), a system-dynamics framework conceptualizing mobilization as interacting feedback loops linking perceived misrecognition, collective expression, public visibility, and institutional response. Drawing on imagined communities, recognition theory, politics of belonging, and social movement theory, the model is illustrated through the 2015 Iranian Pro League finale and 2025 refereeing controversies. The analysis shows that mobilization operates as a recursive, self-reinforcing process in which institutional responses unintentionally intensify perceived misrecognition. The findings contribute to football scholarship on supporter culture, stadium contention, and the political role of clubs in constrained environments.

Keywords: Sport and politics, Identity mobilization, Azerbaijani Ethnic Identity, System dynamics, Iran