Abstarct: The present study was conducted with the aim of identifying the professional competencies of sports coaches. In terms of purpose, this research is applied, and in terms of nature, it is an exploratory mixed-method study (qualitative–quantitative). In the qualitative phase, through library research and semi-structured interviews with 12 experts, including sport management faculty members, experienced coaches, and technical managers, who were selected using purposive and snowball sampling methods, the dimensions of competencies were identified. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. In the quantitative phase, 13 specialists were purposively selected, and the prioritization of the components was carried out using a researcher-made questionnaire and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The results of the qualitative phase led to the identification of three overarching themes, namely individual and leadership competencies, technical and scientific competencies, and professional and organizational factors, along with 10 main components. The TOPSIS ranking results indicated that football technical knowledge ranked first in importance. It was followed, respectively, by leadership skills, professional experience and background, individual characteristics, training planning skills, communication skills, performance analysis skills, sports science knowledge, organizational and environmental factors, and the use of technology in coaching. The findings of the study revealed that the professional competence of football coaches is a multidimensional construct that goes beyond technical knowledge and requires soft skills such as leadership and personal characteristics. Therefore, football federations and clubs should consider a balanced set of technical, scientific, and managerial competencies in their training, evaluation, and recruitment programs for coaches, rather than focusing solely on playing experience.