ماهبانو قادری

The purpose of this study was to provide a model for supporting elite female athletes in championship sports. To achieve the research aim, 200 people answered the questionnaires using purposive sampling method. The researcher-developed questionnaire was prepared through studying the theoretical background, semi-guided interviews with sports management professors and elite female athletes through an exploratory process, and exploratory factor analysis was used to categorize the 46 items into nine factors. The extracted constructs were found to be both valid and reliable based on confirmatory factor analysis by LISREL software and Cronbach's alpha. Results of the study indicated that the present questionnaire was a suitable tool to assess the support for elite female athletes. Besides, the final research model indicated that financial support was the first priority from the respondents’ perspective while government support was the last priority according to them. Moreover, all the fitness indices of the model for supporting elite female athletes and its aspects had good fitness which confirmed the model. Based on the results of the present study, it is suggested that the research model and the priority of its factors be considered for policy-making in the field of women's championship sports.