One of the areas of performance that has played a significant role in the development of sports clubs in recent years is the field of sports marketing management. The purpose of this study was to design a model for professional development of Iranian Premier League clubs based on the use of sports marketing. The research method is exploratory and has a qualitative nature that uses the grounded theory technique. The research population included professors of sports management, CEOs and marketers of Iranian Premier League football clubs, members of the marketing committee of the Football Federation. Targeted method and snowball technique were used for sampling. Open-ended interviews were used to collect data. Data were analyzed from 17 interviews (theoretical saturation was obtained from 15 onwards in three stages of open, axial and selective coding. To confirm the reliability, the method of retesting and re-coding was used by other researchers. Three interviews were coded as a sample and finally the reliability was obtained 85 percentages. The results showed that in the open coding process were generated a total of 233 non-duplicate initial codes. These codes were divided into 20 concepts based on thematic similarity. Then, these concepts were placed in the form of a paradigm model of the category. These concepts include: causal conditions (basic, professional and organizational requirements); Background conditions (football sports capabilities, infrastructure capabilities, strategic capabilities and operational capabilities); Interfering factors (government-managerial, political-economic and cultural-social barriers); Strategies (customer relationship management, human resource management, brand management, sports marketing mix management, international management and legal management) and consequences (fundamental development, structural development, environmental development and economic development). According to the research findings, it can be said that the use
