How Azerbaijan Uses Football to Rewrite History
In Azerbaijan, football is no longer just a sport—it has become a stage for propaganda. Over the past two decades, particularly under the Aliyev regime, the game has been weaponized as a soft-power tool to reshape historical narratives and reinforce territorial claims. The clearest example of this strategy is Qarabağ FK, a club that serves as much for political signaling as it does for sporting competition.
Qarabağ FK: A Club Built on Displacement and Narrative Manipulation
Originally based in the city of Akna (Aghdam), Qarabağ FK became a “refugee club” after the city was emptied during the First Artsakh War. Instead of recognizing this as a humanitarian tragedy, the Azerbaijani government saw an opportunity.
State-aligned oligarchs and corporations—especially Azersun Holding—poured massive financial support into the club, not for the sake of football, but to reinforce a larger narrative: that “Qarabağ” is and has always been Azerbaijani, and that this identity can be strengthened through sports.
Qarabağ FK has since become a regular contender in the UEFA Europa League, playing high-profile international matches and receiving widespread media coverage. However, the club’s very name is a political project designed to erase the Armenian connection to Artsakh while promoting an Azerbaijani identity for the region.
Turning Sports into a Platform for Historical Revisionism
Encouraged by Qarabağ FK’s success, Azerbaijan has expanded its efforts. The latest project, Iravan FK, takes its name from the Azerbaijani term for Yerevan, Armenia’s capital.
Founded in 2019, Iravan FK has no connection to Yerevan, Armenia, or Armenian football. Based entirely in Azerbaijan, the club’s name is part of Baku’s broader strategy to appropriate and rename spaces beyond its borders—both historically and culturally.
This initiative aligns with the Aliyev regime’s ideological campaign, which now regularly refers to Armenia as “Western Azerbaijan” and promotes narratives about reclaiming Armenian territory. Through Iravan FK, these claims are being normalized—subtly yet persistently.
With a new stadium, major sponsors, and a rapid promotion to the First League, Iravan FK is being positioned to follow Qarabağ FK’s trajectory: gaining international recognition, securing media attention, and reinforcing Azerbaijan’s revisionist claims through football.
Football as a Tool for Propaganda
This is not diplomacy or sportsmanship but state-sponsored narrative warfare.
By using football—a medium of connection and shared experience—Azerbaijan is attempting to overwrite cultural memory, diminish Armenian heritage, and repackage territorial ambition as entertainment.
When Qarabağ FK plays on a UEFA stage, it represents more than a football club; it is an extension of the regime’s political agenda. As Iravan FK moves onto the international scene, it will serve the same purpose—not just competing for trophies but advancing Azerbaijan’s historical revisionism.
The true cost of this strategy is not only the politicization of sport but also the normalization of occupation, denial, and historical erasure. In this game, the most powerful messages are not delivered by players but by those controlling the narrative—from the stands, on the billboards, and in the names printed on jerseys.
This article was inspired by a Facebook status written by Associate Professor at YSU Department of Iranian Studies, Artyom Tonoyan.
