Identification of Indicators of the International Transfer of Iranian Footballers by Using the Theme Analysis

Today, the football players' transfer market is internationalized. The purpose of this study was to identify the indices of the international transfer market for Iranian footballers through qualitative research method and using the theme analysis. The statistic population was consisted of transferred players, the managers of the clubs that players were transferred during their management, Presidents and Secretaries of the current and former Football Federation, agents of players, Academic members with simultaneous marketing and football expertise, Faculty members with simultaneous expertise in marketing and football, Senior managers of sport, And sampling was unpredictable in both targeted and snowball mode.This study lasted for 10 months (January 2016 to December 2016 or Persian date from Bahman 1394 to Azar 1395). The results of the study led to the identification of 62 indicators in six main themes, namely, the role of the of the technical performance of the player, the role of the player's non-technical factors, the role of the national federation, the role of the club, the role of the government and the role of the player's agent in the international transfer market for Iranian footballers. At the end, the findings of this study can be used as a criterion to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the dimensions of the international football transfer market.