Identifying the factors of the Premier Football League’s development of the Islamic Republic of Iran with a Delphi-fuzzy approach

The method of this research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of nature and method. The statistical population of the study was the faculty members of the university and the organization of the Premier League. This research was conducted in two stages. Thus, in the first stage, in order to identify the stages of football development, 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts and specialists active in the organization of the football league and the field of sports management. Using content analysis, 30 sub-codes and 5 main codes were identified. Then 30 factors in the form of a questionnaire entered the second stage. In the second stage, the fuzzy Delphi technique was used in two stages to reach a group agreement between the experts and the screening of the findings of the first stage. Based on the results, five levels of development were identified as indicators of financial, organizational, competitive, performance and human resource development. Paying attention to these factors and its sub-sections can guide the managers and planners of the league in order to develop professionalism in the Iranian Football Premier League.