Abstract The aim of this study was to determine the role of sports management and diplomacy in enhancing Iran's reputation in international communities.
The research method is theoretical and applied in terms of purpose, and data collection was carried out using a qualitative method, which included three parts: studying upstream documents and examining theoretical foundations (47 articles), semi-structured interviews with experts and scholars (12 interviews), and using the Delphi technique (18 experts) to reach theoretical consensus and ranking in three stages, where the theoretical consensus criterion was above 70% agreement among experts and the classification criterion was the average Likert scale score with each concept.
The Delphi group ultimately approved 52 concepts, including sports management (39 concepts) and sports diplomacy (13 concepts).
Overall, the results showed that proper management of financial and human resources, appropriate use of the capacity of sports diplomacy in international interactions, and comprehensive support of all national organizations for the country's sports will lay the groundwork for enhancing Iran's international status and reputation.