This research aims to study the effect of the sustainable management of human resources on performance. It examines the impact of market value, roster size, arrivals and departures on team performance in football. Regressions are tested based on data from clubs in the Persian Gulf Pro League—the first tier in Iranian men’s football—over 2009–2022 (n = 216 observations). The results show that market value has a significant positive impact on team performance roster size and arrivals a significant negative impact, and departures no significant impact. When distinguishing departures between teams with a roster size below 33 players vs. 33 players and more, departures for roster size below 33 players have a significant positive impact vs. no impact for 33 players and more. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to distinguish arrivals and departures when looking at staff turnover in football. It informs the need for a sustainable roster (not too many arrivals) and roster size (not too high) to perform on the pitch. The article highlights that departures can help reach a more sustainable roster size (if too high) and a better team performance, while also contributing to a sustainable financial management.

Elite athlete success in international events and sports development promotes sports participation and this is main concern for many researchers to develop the elite sport. If the economic conditions are not desirable, it is not possible to develop elite sport and promote sports participation to achieve this goal. Economic crises have made the managers employ a deep insight into the effect of the economic conditions of the country on the sport. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the interaction effect of sports participation and elite sports development with an emphasis on macroeconomic variables using an econometric model with a simultaneous equation approach based on the 2SLS method in Iran. The results showed that inflation and unemployment rates have significant and negative effects on sports participation. Rural household income has a significant and positive effect on sports participation but urban household income has a significant and negative effect on sports participation. Standard of living has a significant and positive effect on sports participation. The effects of sports media, sports budget, and Non-athlete participants on elite sports development are significant and positive. Finally, the interaction effect of sports participation and elite sports development is positive and significant.

Sport in all societies’ leads to a return on social capital. Many politicians use sports-based programs to reduce crime in society because sport plays an important role in the social development of societies. On the other hand, crime causes insecurity in the neighborhood, and when people realize their fear of crime, they reduce their social activities, such as sports participation. Therefore, this study determines the interaction effect between crime and sport participation and we test an econometric model with simultaneous equations approach using the two-stage least squares method (2SLS). We used panel data of all provinces of Iran from 2004 – 2017. The results showed that a significant and negative interaction effect exists between crime and sport participation. Also, the number of coaches, sport facilities, and, sport budget have a significant and positive effect on sport participation. Per capita GDP has a significant and negative effect on crime and per capita GDP”×”sport participation has a significant and positive effect on crime. Finally, drugs have a significant and positive effect on crime.