Abstract. The so-called extended linear sigma model is a chiral model with (pseudo)scalar and (axial-)vector mesons. It is based on the requirements of (global) chiral symmetry and dilatation invariance. The purpose of this model is the description of the hadron phenomenology up to 1.7 GeV. We present the latest theoretical results, which show a good agreement with the experiment.In this paper we describe a chiral σ model, called 'extended Linear σ model (Elσm)', in which scalar, pseudoscalar, vector, axial-vector quark-antiquark mesons and,in addition, a scalar dilaton/glue field are the basic degrees of freedom. The aim is to develop a model with the basic symmetries of QCD which can describe the vacuum phenomenology up to 1.7 GeV. The Lagrangian of the model is built by requiring (i) global chiral symmetry and (ii) dilatation invariance. Although chiral models are studied since long time [1], the here presented Elσm represents the first attempt to treat in a unified chiral framework (pseudo)scalar mesons (including the glueball) as well as (axial-)vector ones. (Previous studies [2] exist only for N f = 2 and not all the mentioned d.o.f. were taken into account.) It turns out that the inclusion of (axial-)vector d.o.f. have a very strong influence on the overall phenomenology, influencing also the decays in the (pseudo)scalar sector.The explicit form of the Lagrangian in the mesonic sector reads (for a generic number of flavors N f ) [3-6]:where D µ Φ = ∂ µ Φ − ig 1 (L µ Φ − ΦR µ ) and dots represent further terms which are unimportant in the evaluation of decays and (on-shell) scattering lengths. Following comments are in order: (i) The (pseudo)scalar quark-antiquark mesons are described by the matrix Φ = (S a + iP a ) t a (t a are the generators of the group U(N f )). The pseudoscalar states are the pion, kaon and the η and η mesons. The assignment of scalar states is controversial [6][7][8] and represents one of the motivations of our study. It turns out that the best agreement with the experiment is obtained when the quarkantiquark scalar states of the model are assigned to the scalar resonances between 1-2 GeV (theory in Refs. [3][4][5] and experimental results in Ref. [9]).