?Fotboll är bara en världslig sak, det betyder inget för evigheten? Religionsvetenskapliga perspektiv på fotbollsintresse
This qualitative study examines if an interest in soccer can give the same meaningfulexperiences in a person's life as a religion would. Five soccer fans were interviewedregarding the meanings and impact of soccer in their lives. Two theories in the fields ofsport and religion were used to analyze the data: Antonovsky's sense of coherence (SOC)with its components meaningfulness, manageability and comprehensibility and Heelasand Woodheads "life-as" and "the subjective-life? derived from the concept "thesubjective turn". It was concluded that the interest in soccer affected the respondents?views of life.The respondents? personal identities were strongly associated with groupmembership, meaning that their interest in common with others was perceived to makeeveryday life meaningful and manageable. It was also concluded that an interest insoccer, like religion, could fulfil certain functions in a person's life but not answerquestions about, for example, life after death or the existence of God. The study is basedon an educational point of view and discusses the implications the study may have onlearning situations.