Factors Affecting The Valuation of Football Players in The Premier League of Iran

The purpose of this research was to identify the factors affecting the valuation of football players in Iran's premier league. In this qualitative research, which was conducted with an exploratory approach and based on the foundation's data theory strategy, data collection was in the form of in-depth interviews with 17 marketing managers of Premier League football clubs and agents active in football. Sampling was non-random and purposeful and the interviews continued until theoretical saturation. Data analysis was done by MAXQDA 18 software. The researcher extracted concepts through a three-step coding process. Then, through category classification and selective coding, he designed a model based on the Glaser framework. Qualitative findings showed that four dimensions of individual traits, performance, psychosocial aspects and contextual factors were identified, consisting of 112 categories with a total frequency of 643 primary conceptual codes (in repetition mode), among which height, visual beauty can be identified and physique, weight, talent, individual awards and team awards in the first dimension, performance quality, shooting power, jumping power, amount of effort and running, muscular endurance, technical diversity, physical strength, pass accuracy, dribbling power, shot accuracy and control. In the second dimension, Tope pointed out creativity, team-building ability, psychological and social adaptation, inner motivation and struggle in the third dimension, and finally, agent or program manager's bargaining, social position and legal restrictions in the fourth dimension. These categories affect the value of players. The general result of this research showed that despite the findings of previous studies that focused on limited aspects of factors affecting the valuation of football players, in this research a comprehensive analysis of multiple variables affecting the pricing of players has been done. Managers, footballers and other stakeholders are suggested to pay attention to the different aspects of this research.