Ahvaz city, due to its location on the banks of the Karun River and possessing natural capacities and susceptible spaces, has considerable potential for the development of sports tourism (especially water sports and coastal recreation). However, challenges such as climate change, periodic floods, and infrastructural limitations have made the necessity of sustainable and resilient planning in this area more evident than ever. In this context, utilizing an urban resilience approach can play an effective role in guiding the development of sports tourism infrastructure and strengthening the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of the city. Accordingly, the present study was conducted with the aim of prioritizing sports tourism development strategies with an urban resilience approach (Case study: Ahvaz City). This research was carried out using a mixed-methods (qualitative-quantitative) approach; in the qualitative section, the initial indicators were identified through interviews with experts and specialists in the fields of sports tourism, urban planning, and crisis management in the metropolis of Ahvaz. In the quantitative section, the SIWEC multi-criteria method based on experts’ opinions was used to weight and prioritize the extracted indicators. The statistical population of the study included experts, university professors, managers, and active specialists in the fields of sports management, tourism, urban management, and urban resilience in Ahvaz city. The samples were selected purposively in the qualitative section and using judgmental sampling in the quantitative section. The research results indicated that the development of resilient sports tourism in the metropolis of Ahvaz requires the adoption of a “step-by-step and economy-centric approach”; in this regard, strengthening the economic dimension (including income diversification, job creation, and investment attraction) is considered the priority and the main driving engine.