Introduction: Cultural intelligence is personal interactions among cultures (Mohammad khani and Jarrahi, 2014). Cross-cultural interactions are aspects of behavior, which forms among peoples from different cultures (Ahmadi & Ghasemi, 2012) Cultural intelligence knowledge is individuals' understanding of cultural similarities and differences (Dinani et al., 2015). In a study, Valizadeh-Alvan et al. (2015) analyzed the components of cultural intelligence in the TV program "Ninety". The results showed that the cultural intelligence components, from highest to lowest frequency, included: behavioral (33.61), motivational (31.4), cognitive (30.61), and metacognitive (4.72) dimensions. Peymanzadeh et al. (2013) investigated the relationship between the coaches' cultural intelligence and effectiveness of Iran's men's national team members. The findings showed that to achieve a higher effectiveness of coaches on players' performance, stabilizing and strengthening trainers' cultural intelligence should be considered, and necessary training should be provided, in addition to considering other factors affecting players' collective productivity. This research dealt with analyzing education and training as a source of cognitive and cultural intelligence from the perspective of Iranian sports experts.
Methodology: This study is a thematic analysis with qualitative approach. The study population included Iranian sports experts in 2016. In this research, the sample was selected purposefully through snowball sampling method. Ten participants participated in this study. Deep semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. The data were analyzed using a thematic analysis. The results validity and reliability were assessed.
Results: The inclusive theme "Education and Training" was introduced as a source of cognitive-cultural intelligence from the perspective of Iranian sports experts. The following organizing categories were identified in this theme: "teaching how to understand cultural differences", "education of culture", "teaching social behaviors proportional to a new culture" and "training". In some aspects, the results of this study are similar to cultural intelligence theory from the viewpoint of Early and Ang (2003).
Discussion: The topic of cross-cultural interactions is of great importance in multicultural societies. The results showed that educating and developing social behaviors, culture, understanding the differences between them, and particularly training are an effective factor in facing and communicating with a non-native culture, and play an effective role for athletes and sports authorities to succeed in the culturally-diverse environment of athletic events. It is recommended that consistency should be established between education and training in family institution, social environment, and sports.