I had the pleasure of watching some of this summer’s FIFA World Cup from one of the tournament’s host cities, Vancouver. I wasn’t able to go to the game in person, but I was equally impressed by the events surrounding the games. Families gather around the television. The restaurant on the street is filled with t-shirts and flags. Friends text each other to arrange watch parties, and strangers who have never met trade smiles after a great goal. Entire teams share the anticipation before kickoff and the heartbreak or joy afterward.
Seeing this collective enjoyment made me wonder if what draws us to events like the World Cup is more than just sport.
Maybe it’s about us being together.
Research on sports fans shows that people take their part person from the groups they belong to. Fans don’t just watch a game; they become part of something bigger. Wins become “our wins” and losses become “our disappointments.” Researchers have even described an “enhanced sense of self” that develops through membership in a shared group.
But personality alone is not enough.
Sport is an emotional experience, and these emotions are rarely felt in isolation. Joy and hope, despair and relief are social experiences as much as personal experiences. Anyone who has held their breath during a penalty shootout or jumped off the sofa after a dramatic goal knows the feeling. Even those of us watching from our living rooms know that millions of people around the world are feeling it right now.
Perhaps this is why sports evoke emotions unlike almost anything else. Joy is greater when shared, and heartache is easier to bear when we carry it together. In a fragmented world, these moments remind us that we are part of something beyond ourselves.
How the World Cup builds teamwork
Three things seem to be working together here, and they approach a fourth.
General identification. We become part of “us”. Whether it’s our national team or simply the host city, we feel connected to something bigger than ourselves.
Collective emotions. We celebrate together and when it’s bad, we grieve together. The highs and lows of the tournament are not only experienced individually, but collectively.
Communication and belonging. Families gather and normally quiet neighborhoods come alive with strangers talking to each other. Shared experiences give us a sense of belonging and remind us that we are not alone.
Collective importance. Together, these tend toward something greater—a sense of appreciation and contribution to a whole that none of us can create alone. This is what my mentor, psychologist Dr. Isaak Prilleltensky called “crucial,” shared experience.
Everyone contributes, players and volunteers, yes, but so do the host city and the families back home. Whether it’s in a stadium or on a couch across town, people of all backgrounds come together at the same time.
We are not just spectators in this. We are participants in a shared experience.
Outside the stadium
The lesson extends far beyond sports. We see the same process in the religious communities and cultural festivals that fill the city’s summer calendar. A common identity breeds commonality feelingand that shared feeling deepens belonging—that co-significance begins.
Maybe it’s volunteering or showing up for a cause we believe in that often gives people a sense of satisfaction. We are not only pursuing a personal pursuit happiness. We are looking for experiences that matter together.
When in the tense loneliness and polarization is increasingly common, perhaps we should pay closer attention to the experiences that unite us.
Because under goals And competition is a deeply human thing.
We all want to feel valued and feel that we are contributing something worth contributing.
And sometimes, when millions of people around the world gather around one game, we’re reminded that some of life’s greatest moments aren’t the times when we don’t matter alone, but when we discover that we matter together.
