Many US soccer fans are excited about America hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup! The first matches started yesterday and the US will play its first team this evening in Los Angeles squaring off with Paraguay at 9pm. This year’s tournament boasts the largest field ever with 48 teams competing for the highest prize in soccer when the final match will be played on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. May the best team win!
While most Americans aren’t well informed about soccer and its stars, it is the most popular sport for most of the rest of the world. Over the next month, we’re likely to learn much more and hear names we’ve never heard before as well as some amazing life stories.
Two years ago, I learned of a soccer star named Christian Atsu from Ghana who played in the 2014 World Cup as well as four Africa Cup of Nations Tournaments where he helped his team finish as runners-up in 2015. He was also named Player of the Tournament and scored the Goal of the Tournament. He was quite a gifted athlete who was tragically killed in February of 2023 along with 53,536 other people in the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that rocked Antakya, Turkey where he was living. The day before the earthquake, Atsu had scored the winning goal for his team in an important match.
During the height of his career, Christian was pulling in 4 million dollars per year enabling him to live comfortably with his wife and 3 children. But he didn’t always have money. In fact, this future star knew hunger and want as he grew up in extreme poverty on the Volta River in Ghana playing soccer bare-footed with his 10 siblings. Their father was a farmer and a fisherman, and Christian’s lack of proper nutrition likely contributed to his short stature at less than 5½ feet. His extraordinary soccer skills, however, rescued him from this hard life and fast-tracked him into international stardom and fame.
But Christian was not only his first name, it’s who he was. When Christian was 16, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and began living for Him. A July 2024 Our Daily Bread devotional quoted this millionaire superstar as saying, “Jesus is the best thing that ever happened in my life.” He regularly posted Bible verses on his social media accounts and was very outspoken about his faith. He was a faithful church member and said that he tried to “imitate the life that Jesus Christ was living.” That’s exactly what a Christian is: someone who not only believes that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God, but who actually tries every day to obey His teachings and copy His lifestyle.
Unlike some other well-paid athletes, Christian used his money to glorify His Savior. He helped fund a school for orphans and was an ambassador for Arms Around The Child which supports disadvantaged children. In addition, he spent thousands of dollars bailing his fellow Ghanaians out of jail who were there not for insurrection or murder, but for stealing food to survive. He easily could have neglected all of these causes and used his well-deserved income to live “high on the hog.” Instead, he sought to obey Jesus by helping the least of these whom he could relate to firsthand. Thankfully, he didn’t wait until he was old to share his surplus.
It’s a true tragedy that his life was cut short at age 31, but there is no doubt he was welcomed into heaven and heard His Master say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” We may not earn $4 million a year, but we each have some disposable income that we can use now to help and bless others. Like Christian, ask God how you can best glorify Him with your money and your life and then do so. Enjoy the World Cup! George