This article is a complex analysis of sport through its social influence. Its goal is to stress the multifaceted nature of the topic, which in the face of increasing commercialization and superficially accepted ambiguity, seems to have narrowed down to political and economic aspect. However, according to the selected examples shown in the article, sport plays significant role in the development of social relations, on one hand it is a glue that keeps local identity together, on the other hand it has a disintegrating affect on national identity. These, as well as the representative facts from the history of sport – limited to problems of social integrity, racism and hooliganism – are accompanied by synthetic review of institutional regulations reflecting the increasing social importance of sport.