Identifying Strategies Affecting Iran Public Diplomacy through Sport and Its Consequences

Today, sport has a close relationship with politics and has become a matter of international relations. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of identifying those strategies affecting Iran public diplomacy through sport and its consequences. The present study had a qualitative approach and the required data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The statistical population consisted of experts in public diplomacy and sport including sport management professors (n=8), professors of international relations and political sciences (n=3), high-ranking sport officials (n=3) and elite athletes (n=3). The sample was selected by purposive sampling method. Data were collected by the study of previous researches and in-depth open interviews. To assess credibility, transfer, and verifiability, the participants were provided with the findings of the study; they examined the text of the theory and their viewpoints were applied. The method used for reliability was an inter-rater reliability method. The average of this agreement was 0.73. Based on the findings of the semi-structured interview, the most important strategies affecting the role of sport in explaining Iran public diplomacy included empowerment, communication networks and public propulsion. Finally, the consequences of the role of sport in explaining public diplomacy in Iran included economic function, cultural function, political function and social development. The managers are therefore recommended to use sport as a key and strategic tool to internationally enhance relations and gain power and economic prosperity, to boost development and promotion of cultural policies.