The Role of Religious Identity in the Formation of National Identity in Student fans of National Teams (Case Study: National Football and Basketball Team)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of religious identity in the formation of the national identity of national football and basketball fans. The research is an applied and descriptive survey. The statistical population of this research is all students of Tehran University, which 597 volunteers completed the research questionnaire. The research instrument is a questionnaire for the national and religious identity of Bogdanov (2011), whose validity was confirmed by 12 experts. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for both questionnaires was 0.93 and 0.91, respectively. Data were analyzed by structural equations in Warp pls 5 and fit index of the model was confirmed. The results showed that the religious identity had a positive effect on the national identity of Shiite and Sunni students, respectively, equal to 0.591 and 0.432, respectively. In general, religious identity had a positive effect on students' national identity of 52.88. The R2 also showed that religious identity can only explain 27.8% of the variance of national identity. Accordingly, other effective variables in the student's national identity should be considered. Due to the weakness of religious identity in the formation of a national identity, sports environments can increase common constraints by reducing structural constraints and lead to the strengthening of national identity.