<![CDATA[Someone who is highly sportive tends to have lower self-acceptance as they are more respectful of the rules and referee decisions, even if they are detrimental. They focus more on fairness and integrity compared to personal satisfaction. Conversely, if someone has high self-acceptance, they tend to care less about sportsmanship. This is because they tend to focus more on personal satisfaction and accept themselves whatever the outcome, without the need to question the rules or fairness in competition. This study aims to examine whether there is a relationship between sportsmanship and self-acceptance. Quantitative correlational method was used in this study involving student-athletes in higher education with N=61. Purposive sampling was used in this study. The instruments used in this study were the Construction of Sportsmanship Attitude Scale (CSAC) and the Unconditional Self-Acceptance Questionnaire (USAQ). Since the data were non-normally distributed, data analysis was conducted using a nonparametric correlation test with IBM SPSS Statistics 25. The results showed a moderate and statistically significant correlation between self-acceptance and sportsmanship (r = .426, p = .001). This study showed a statistically significant relationship between self-acceptance and sportsmanship of student-athletes in higher education. This correlation value indicates a moderate relationship according to the interpretation category. This study concluded that student-athletes who have high self-acceptance will have low sportsmanship and vice versa. So the researcher suggested that athletes and students create a balance between sportsmanship and positive self-acceptance. With the right strategies, student-athletes can still have a high sense of sportsmanship without losing self-acceptance. It is suggested that athlete development programs incorporate strategies to balance strong sportsmanship values with positive self-acceptance to support ethical behavior and psychological well-being.]]>
