Ma`rifat Akhlaqi

Due to its popularity and acceptance in the world, professional sports is supported politically, executively and economically by governments and companies. Professional sports have beneficial dimensions and effects in various fields. For a final judgment about professional sports, its positive and negative aspects should be examined. The purpose of this research is simply to explain the harmful aspects of professional sports, such as physical, mental-emotional, behavioral-social harms and judge them ethically. This research was carried out using the descriptive-analytical method, rational and moral arguments, and the results of other field researches. The findings show that the nature and basis of professional sports with the current approach in the world has potential physical harms, spiritual and emotional harms causing moral vices (such as superiority, arrogance and boasting), and social-behavioral harms (such as wrong valuation in the society, and calling other people to moral vices by wrong modeling and not valuing public sports). Therefore, promoting and supporting professional sports may face moral challenges. Therefore, it is necessary for the governments or organizations supporting professional sports to consider these harmful and challenging aspects and try to correct them.