Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Associate Professor, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
2 Assistant Professor, Physical Education Department, Technical and Vocational University (TVU), Tehran, Iran.
3 Ph.D. Candidate of Sport Psychology, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Religious and political challenges with Saudi Arabia in the last decade, followed by the burning of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, invited the sport of the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially national an club’s football, to a new problem. The purpose of this study was to analyze the anti-diplomacy of Iranian football as a geopolitical challenge against Saudi Arabia. The present study was a qualitative (descriptive-analytical) type of library studies in terms of applied purpose and in terms of data collection; The statistical population was equal to 54 works of international sports relations and in particular sports diplomacy in the Middle East region and the statistical sample was equal to the contents about Iranian football anti-diplomacy, soft power of Iran and Saudi Arabia. The findings of the present study showed that the national teams of Saudi Arabia and Iran, as the main players in the Arab world and the Middle East, respectively, have played a significant role in the development of football in this region and many Asian football achievements, including being on the championship platform in the Asian Champions League. And attending the FIFA World Cup has been the result of the two countries' attention to football as their most popular sport; Finally, football in the confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East can be a tool for convergence and as one of the basic geopolitical codes of the two countries, which with its soft nature can open a diplomatic path in re-examining the relations between the two countries.
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