Major sporting events can temporarily increase nationalist sentiment

What's this about?

People disagree about whether big sports events can make people feel more loyal to their country.

The main question is whether this feeling lasts or changes people’s deeper views.

What supporters say

• Winning in sport can raise pride in one’s country for a short time.
• Flags, songs, clothes, and TV shows put the nation in front of many people.
• Strong love for one’s nation can sometimes turn into dislike or harm toward people from other lands.

What critics say

• The effect can change across groups, countries, and events.
• Feeling proud of a team or country does not always mean support for harsh ideas about nations.

How to read this

The number of points on each side does not show who is right; check how strong the proof is.

The bottom line

Big sports events can clearly raise national pride and patriotic acts for a short time, especially after a win.

The proof is weaker that these events cause lasting changes in political views, and we are not sure this happens to everyone.

Major sporting events can temporarily increase nationalist sentiment, especially when a national team or athlete wins. But the evidence is stronger for a short-lived rise in national pride and patriotic expression than for a lasting change in political beliefs.

The case for

Sporting success can raise national pride. A German quasi-experimental study found that success in sport increased feelings of national pride, while research in England also linked British sporting achievements with greater pride in the country. The English findings showed that the effect varied by people’s backgrounds and identities, but together the studies provide more than anecdotal support for a short-term boost in national feeling. 1

Major events also create an unusually visible setting for national symbols. Flags, anthems, ceremonies, team uniforms, medal tables and shared television broadcasts repeatedly present the nation as the focus of public attention. Research on the Beijing 2022 opening ceremony found that its language reinforced national stories, while analysis of Weibo showed wider participation in familiar patriotic symbols. These findings make a temporary rise in patriotic expression plausible (see Figure 1). 2

The effect can sometimes move beyond celebration. Studies have linked sports nationalism in certain circumstances with xenophobic attitudes and violence, suggesting that stronger identification with one’s own nation can also encourage hostility toward outsiders. That supports a narrower point: sporting events can intensify national identification, and that identification may sometimes become exclusionary. It does not show that every event or every fan will respond in this way. 3

The case against

The main problem is that national pride is not necessarily nationalism. Pride in a team or country may be a temporary emotional response rather than support for a political ideology, exclusionary beliefs or a more permanent shift in how people see the nation. The strongest studies directly measure national pride, while research on ceremonies and social media measures symbols, public participation and media language instead of broad changes in nationalist beliefs. 4

The response is also unlikely to be the same across an entire population. The English research found differences linked to demographics and identity, while the German findings depended on the political and national setting. Events can also send mixed messages: analysis of Beijing 2022 combined national representation with internationalist and commercial themes. Mega-events therefore do not promote nationalism in one simple or uniform way. 5

The evidence is clearest after a successful performance, not for every event. Ceremonies and media coverage may strengthen national stories, while international or commercial framing may soften them. Shared rituals can create solidarity, but national identification can also be aimed at rival countries or minority groups. The available research does not yet show how quickly these effects fade, whether pride lasts after the event, or whether visible patriotic expression changes wider political attitudes.

The bottom line

The evidence supports the claim in a qualified way. Major sporting events—especially successful performances by national teams or athletes—can temporarily increase national pride and visible patriotic identification. Confidence is high for that narrower conclusion.

The evidence is weaker for the broader idea that such events create a general or lasting rise in nationalist ideology. Much of the research measures pride, public symbols or event-specific hostility rather than a common measure of nationalism over time. Results also vary by country, group, political context, event outcome and media framing. Overall, sporting events appear more likely to activate national feeling briefly than to produce a durable transformation in nationalist beliefs.