Foresight of I.R. Iran’s elite sport development in horizon 2037

The purpose of this research was to formulate the novel policies, strategies and scenarios based on the preferred foresight of national elite sport development. The methodology was foresight focused on analysis method of cross impact and scenario writing. We used expert panel sampling which was purposive selection and sample size included 16 experts. Also, MICMAC as a strategic foresight software program has been utilized to analyze the cross impacts.  The influential driving forces were extracted from the research background and expert panel. The influence and dependence were identified. Finally, three key driving forces including the stability of tenure of managerial personnel and meritocracy, the national strategy to host mega-events and the government’s attention to women sport were introduced, the scenarios were formulated and the probable futures were described.  The founding can open a different vision before managers’ eyes in elite sport. The stability of the tenure of management creates the enough opportunities to conduct plans; the meritocracy in terms of human resources employment makes the executive levers for managers; to host the event leads to develop infrastructure and gain the authorities’ attention to sport; finally, the women’s sport potential must be considered due to the global prominence of women’s sport growth.