Ritual and the Sacred in Sports Games

The article is part of the study concerning rituals in sport. It is a review of the literature in the fi elds of sociology,anthropology and physics regarding rituals in culture. Aside from more defi nitions and their interpretations, theliterature presents the relations between rituals, being an integral part of a culture and the values and ideals theyrefer to. Sports games are culture-forming activities and allow the participants to tap into all the values involvedin them. The article describes how ritual involves sports games. How and if at all can we join ritual and sport? Andwhy sports could be a new religion.