Sports fandom as a cultural phenomenon: experience of conceptual analysis

The subject of the study is sports fandom as a form of contemporary mass culture; the focus is on the symbolic, ritual, discursive, and mediatized mechanisms through which sports affiliation acquires a collective cultural form. The aim of the article is to clarify the content of the term "sports fandom," to relate it to adjacent concepts such as "supporter," "fan," "fan community," "supporters' group," and "fanaticism," as well as to demonstrate the role of symbols, rituals, collective memory, and mediatization in its description. The methodological basis consists of a conceptual analysis that includes mapping the field of usage, identifying the semantic core and periphery, differentiating adjacent concepts, and comparing Russian and English terms. The scientific novelty of the work lies in considering sports fandom not as a private case of spectator behavior or fanaticism but as an independent form of collective cultural affiliation. Special attention is paid to how fan practices reinforce a sense of community through visual codes, speech formulas, and support rituals. As a result, sports fandom is defined as a mediatized form of collective cultural affiliation, organized around a sports symbolic object and reproduced through symbolic, ritual, discursive, and platform-communication practices. The formulated definition can be used in further research on fan discourses, visual codes, and digital forms of participation.