رحیم زارع

The hosting of Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the announcement of Saudi Arabia's preparation for the 2034 made the world wondered for the new Middle East in the coming years. On the one hand, political experiences such as war and extremism groups, and on the other hand, the main source of oil and gas supply in the Middle East is a proof of the need for countries in the region to use football as a lever in changing the international image. The purpose of the current research is to investigate the position of football and the development process of football in the Middle East region, focusing on the three countries of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE, and finally, the reason for Iran's conflicts with some of these countries in region. While the sport has a critical role on empowering the international prestige of Gulf states, football is the critical part to fill the power vacuum in region. Football has two minor (media, airlines and tourism) and micro (Geopolitics, geo economy, competition and political economy) impression on region.

In the contemporary global landscape, nations strive to portray themselves as modern and open societies, employing various tools, such as art diplomacy, scientific diplomacy, and sports diplomacy, as a compelling facet of public engagement, especially over the past two decades. This study aims to scrutinize the role of sports in interactions of Iran and Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The research was descriptive based on qualitative technic that was done by two round Delphi interviews. The participants consisted of 14 experts of sport policy and international relations and the data collection involved an examination of diverse sources, including articles, books, and websites of Google Scholar, Taylor Francis, and Sciences Direct. The qualitative section indicated three concepts of sport diplomatic interactions of Iran and SCO countries included: Economic, Political and Cultural factors. The findings also highlight Russia and China as promising prospects for fostering sports diplomatic interactions with Iran. Sports events that secure medals, notably gymnastics and swimming, benefit significantly from enhanced bilateral and multilateral exchanges within the sports competitions framework among Shanghai Cooperation Agreement nations.

Sports tourism is one of the most attractive types of tourism that occurs in different regions and countries. This  tourism type is effective in economic fields and extremely significant in cultural and sportsmanship contexts.  To this end, the current research aimed to identify and explain the effective components of sport tourism in the  sublimity of culture and sportsmanship, conducted through a mixed method. This research approach was  sequential exploratory in two qualitative-quantitative phases, in which “thematic analysis” and “survey”  methods were used, respectively. The first phase’s statistical population included experts in sport tourism, sport  management, culture management, and sportsmanship, with 14 individuals participating in semi-structured  interviews using a purposive sampling method. After determining the effective actors in this field, 32 experts  responded to questionnaires using a systematic sampling method in the study’s second phase. According to the  research findings of the first phase, the themes extracted from the semi-structured interviews comprised 39  fundamental themes, 15 organizing themes, and four global themes. Per the second phase of the study’s  findings, all themes were approved by the experts, all determinants of the role of sport tourism in the sublimity  of sports culture and sportsmanship. As a result, sports tourism, while creating macroeconomic benefits for  residents and visitors, significantly contributes to the sublimity of sports culture and sportsmanship, where this  category can strengthen the value and ethical attitudes in addition to creating recreational experiences

Sports tourism is one of the types of tourism that has an increasing growth in the tourism industry. Its effects are evident in all dimensions and fields, and there is a need to explain the role of this type of tourism on promoting the culture and ethics of the host society. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to investigate the role of sports tourism on promoting the culture and ethics of the host society, which is done using a mixed method. In the first stage, semi-structured interviews were conducted using the qualitative method of the focus group of 15 experts who were selected by the purposive sampling method. In the second stage, 27 experts were identified using stratified sampling. Through the tool of the questionnaire, they expressed their opinions regarding the extracted components and indicators. According to the research findings, 32 key codes, 14 integrative codes and 4 overarching codes were obtained through coding by King and Harrocks method. In the quantitative stage, all the experts approved the extracted components and indicators. According to the results, sports tourism has a fundamental role in promoting the culture and ethics of the host society and this role is through components such as "developing and promoting positive and useful values in the host society; cultural and moral empowerment of tourists and the host society; promotion of participation and ethical cooperation; developing and promoting a culture of altruism and empathy" was approved. These cases can not only bring positive and extensive communication fields to the host society, but they are also able to be effective in creating social capital in the host society.