The Relationship between National Teams' Sports Performance and National Identity of Students

The main objective of this research was to investigate the empirical relationship between the performance of national sport and national identity of the students. For this purpose, four performance positions were diagnosed, including success while expecting success, success while expecting failure, failure while expecting success, and failure while expecting failure. For national identity also was considered four modes or status: "Self-centered reinforced national identity: national glory, "Self-centered weakened national identity: national shame, Anti-stranger reinforced national identity: national pride, and Anti-stranger weakened national identity: national embarrassment. Content validity was used to determine the validity of the researcher-made questionnaire, and internal consistency reliability and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were used to determine its reliability. The statistical population includes undergraduate and graduate students of Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, 320 of whom were selected using non-proportional stratified sampling method. The results showed that, firstly, the success or failure of national sports in any case, respectively, strengthens or weakens national identity. Second, the double strengthening or weakening of national identity depends on the dominant interpretive framework of national sports performance, so that successes or failures far beyond the expectations of national sports provide the basis for strengthening or weakening national identity more than expected successes or failures. Therefore, the issue of national identity is one of the important issues and dimensions in social life that can be directly affected by the sport performance of national teams.