Background and Aim: Sport drives national development, diplomacy, and public health. Despite its history and international achievements, Iran’s sports governance suffers from state centralization, poor financial transparency, overlapping mandates, and weak private sector involvement. This research identifies governance gaps between Iran and seven countries (USA, UK, Germany, Australia, China, Brazil, Qatar) and proposes corrective solutions.

Method: This applied‑developmental, qualitative study uses Bereday’s four‑step comparative model and categorical content analysis. The population includes upstream documents, sports laws of the seven nations, OECD/UNESCO/WADA reports, and authoritative articles (2000‑2025). A researcher‑made checklist of 52 governance indicators (based on Chappelet & Gierert models) was used; content validity (CVR=0.89) and reliability (test‑retest 87%, Cohen’s Kappa 0.85) were confirmed.

Findings: Iran has a centralized, statist governance model (government funds >90% of sports budget). By contrast, the UK/Germany follow a mixed public‑market model; China/Australia a state‑market hybrid; Qatar/Brazil an event‑driven, capital‑oriented model. Iran’s financial transparency index is 2.5/10 (UK 8.6, Germany 7.9), and there is no independent body to oversee doping or financial violations.

Conclusion: Iran’s sports governance suffers institutional lock‑in due to state dependence and lack of accountability. Transition to an efficient model requires transparency, federation autonomy, private sector involvement, and independent oversight.

Suggestions: Revise the Ministry of Sport’s statute; create a Supreme Council for Sport Policy‑making (government, private sector, civil society); mandate online publication of federation budgets; establish a national anti‑corruption body; develop special sport economic zones.