Prof. Simone Shamai-Zuri from the University of Haifa explains why a goal for the national team feels like a personal victory, how “joy for the soul” is created against the opponent, and why watching football together turns us into a synchronized emotional group for a moment.
The 90th minute, the score is 0:0, we are in the World Cup final, we must get a result, the players are tense, the heat on the field is unbearable, the referee has the whistle in his mouth, he will soon signal for extra time, the tension on the field and in the stands of the fans can be cut with a knife.
Stop. What is happening to the fans now in the stands and at home, what is the psychological explanation for the feelings they feel? Is there a difference between collective viewing and watching at home, and of course in the stands on the field? The World Cup opens on June 11, 2026 and will be held this year in the United States, Canada and Mexico; Los Angeles is one of the host cities, and will also host the opening match of the US team and other games.” In preparation for the World Cup, we turned toProf. Simon Shamai-Zuri, head The Center for Brain and Behavior At the University of Haifa, to understand what we go through during the games.
Prof. Shamai-Zuri, the World Cup is one of the most emotional events in the world. What actually happens in our brains the moment our team scores a goal?
“Football can be seen as a kind of living laboratory for inter-team competition. It is a space where people quickly organize themselves into ‘us’ and ‘them’, synchronize with each other, get excited together, hate together, envy together and sometimes even rejoice together.
The idea for the World Cup grew out of an understanding of the immense power of football to concentrate national and group emotions within a regulated framework. Jules Rimet, the president of FIFA and the man most closely identified with the founding of the World Cup, was a Frenchman who had experienced World War I. After it, he promoted the idea of a world football tournament, believing that the game had the power to bring rival nations together and allow national competition to have a symbolic, regulated, and non-violent expression. The first World Cup was held in 1930 in Uruguay, and Rimet saw football as an arena where countries could compete, take pride, wave flags, and meet each other – without fighting.
But precisely because of this, the World Cup is also a psychologically fascinating place. It does not eliminate our tribal feelings, but rather centers them in a non-violent environment. In ninety minutes, you can see almost all the social phenomena of competition between groups: synchronization, affiliation, herd behavior, group pride, jealousy, rivalry, and joy for the sake of it.
The moment our team scores a goal, the brain senses it as if we have won a great victory, as if we are part of a powerful and strong team. For a true fan, the team is part of their identity, and therefore the goal is experienced almost like a personal or family success. The reward systems in the brain are activated, especially areas related to pleasure, motivation, and expectation of reward. At the same time, there is strong physical arousal: the heart rate increases, breathing changes, muscles contract, and sometimes the body reacts before we even have time to think. Researchers who have examined facial expressions during a victory see that the reaction is powerful, almost painful. There is research showing that a facial expression of victory is similar to a facial expression of pain. The body reacts automatically – jumping, shouting, waving hands, and even hugging a stranger.
This joy is not just private – it is synchronized. Thousands or millions of people react at the same second to the same event. The gate creates a rare moment in which body, emotion and group identity come together at once. For a brief moment, the ‘I’ expands and becomes ‘we’ – like one powerful herd experiencing shared joy.”
Sometimes the opponent's failure makes us happier than our own victory. What is actually happening to us and why?
“This is the phenomenon known as ‘schadenfreude.’ Most of us don’t like to admit it, but it is a much more common human emotion than we think. The German word Schadenfreude is made up of two words: Schaden, meaning damage or injury, and Freude, meaning joy – that is, ‘joy at the misfortune of another.’ A football fan may feel satisfaction when the opposing team loses, an employee may rejoice when a successful colleague is criticized by the manager – as if the balance of power has become more equitable again.
Many psychologists see the joy of envy as the other side of the coin. When another person's success makes us feel inferior, their failure can temporarily restore our sense of equality. Studies by Smith and his colleagues have found that people report greater joy when a successful person experiences failure than when someone who is not perceived to have a special advantage. Sometimes it is the downfall of those "above" us that provokes the strongest reaction.
In the context of the World Cup, joy for the enemy appears especially when there is a historical rivalry or a feeling that the other side threatens our team. We will experience it even if we have no gain from the other's failure - the feeling is that if they are hurt and weakened, we become stronger.
This doesn’t mean we react immorally or pettyly. It means that our social brain is built to think in groups. It constantly signals how my team is doing compared to the opposing team, and the success of the home team makes us happy – but the failure of the away team can also inspire satisfaction.”
Is there a specific moment from the World Cup that perfectly illustrates this phenomenon?
“There are many moments in the competition that illustrate the group phenomena. You mainly see it in peak moments like a sweeping victory or a crushing loss. One of the moments that illustrates this well is a penalty shootout. In the last penalty, the world seems to shrink to one point: player, ball, goalkeeper, goal. Millions of people hold their breath at that very moment. If the opponent’s player misses, the fans’ outburst is not only joy at their qualification – it is also joy at the collapse of the other side. You see it in the body: people jump, laugh, scream, sometimes even imitate the opponent’s despair. It is a moment when joy, relief, competition and sheer joy mix together.
"It is precisely the penalties that illustrate how football is not just a game of athletes, but a vast emotional laboratory of group identity."
What happens when millions of people experience the same moment at exactly the same time – can we talk about a “collective mind”?
“In a way, moments like this remind us that we are still gregarious creatures. When we think of a herd, we often imagine something negative – people acting without thinking. But in nature, gregariousness is first and foremost a survival mechanism. Birds and fish move in flocks and mammals in herds – they learn from each other, hunt together, react together to threats, and thus increase their chances of survival. Humans also have a deep tendency to synchronize with the group, only in our case it is also expressed in emotion, attention and thought.
“A ‘collective brain’ is a good image. At certain moments, the group behaves almost like a single organism—one body that looks, tenses, contracts, and explodes together. In studies in our laboratory, we have shown that during motor and emotional synchronization, the brains also synchronize—a common brain activity is created, as if the members of the group are broadcasting on the same wavelength. This is an ancient mechanism that allows us to become a herd that protects its members.”
Do fans watching alone at home experience the game differently than those watching in the crowd?
“Yes, the brain definitely knows the difference. When we watch alone, we can still get very excited, but when we watch with others, the emotion intensifies. The shared presence allows for enhanced inter-brain synchronization – we not only react to the game, but also to the reactions of the people around us.
“Shouts, applause, body movements, tense faces, hugs – all of these increase the synchronization between fans. The emotion becomes contagious. If everyone around me is jumping, my body also enters the same state. That’s why a game in a stadium or a pub can feel much stronger than the exact same game on the couch at home.”
Finally, what would you like the average fan to understand about themselves?
“I would like him to understand that when he screams in front of the screen, jumps for joy or feels real pain after a loss – he is not ‘overdoing it.’ His mind truly treats the team as part of him.
But I would like him to understand the other side as well: the group feeling is a wonderful force, but also a dangerous one. It can connect strangers and create moments of closeness and unity, but it can also very quickly turn into hostility and hatred. Football reminds us that we don’t just think alone and feel alone – we become infected with the emotions of others, synchronize with them, and sometimes literally become part of an emotional herd. The question is not how to get rid of it, but how to be aware of it – and enjoy the magic of the group without losing our humanity towards the other side.”
We wish everyone an enjoyable viewing of the 2026 World Cup, and may the Israeli team one day rise to this honorable status.
Short FAQ
What happens in the brain when a favorite team scores a goal?
The reward systems in the brain are activated, the body enters a state of arousal, and the fan experiences the success as if it is related to him personally or to the team he is a part of.
Why do fans sometimes rejoice at the opponent's failure?
This is a phenomenon known as joy for the sake of joy. In a group context, the opponent's failure may feel like it strengthens our own team.
Is watching in a stadium different from watching alone at home?
Yes. Watching together heightens the emotion, because fans respond not only to the game but also to each other: to the shouts, the applause, the tension and joy around them.
What does “collective mind” mean in the context of football?
This is an image of a situation in which a large group of people react together to the same event, synchronize emotionally and sometimes physically, and behave almost as a single unit.
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