The Investigation of the Political - Legal Obstacles to Club Privatization in Iran Football Professional League

This survey identified and prioritized the political - legal obstacles to club privatization in Iran football professional league in 1390-91. The statistical sample of this study included the directors of football clubs of premier league and first division, chiefs of different committees of Football Federation, officials of football boards of provinces, sport management and some political sciences, law and management professors who were familiar with the problems of football professional clubs, football journalists who were familiar with privatization issues and some football and privatization experts (census sampling method) (n=173). The data were collected by field method using a questionnaire. Its validity was confirmed by professors and experts and its reliability was determined by Cronbach’s alpha (α=0.91). Friedman test was used to rank the obstacles. The results showed that the most important obstacle to club privation of Iran football professional league was lack of private TV channels to cover Iran professional football matches. All football fans paid so much attention to these important goals: increasing the effectiveness and efficiency, improving management, obtaining desirable results and increasing the budget of clubs while the political - legal obstacles to the club privatization prevented from reaching these goals. So, it is essential to eliminate the existing political – legal obstacles.