Scoring goals for the kingdom?

As the Euro 2024 soccer championship reaches fever pitch, we are likely to see a marked increase in the number of social media comment threads devoted to resolving that most controversial of sports-related disputes: 'Who is the Greatest Of All Time?' (a.k.a. G.O.A.T.)

That dispute normally centres on four or five well-known international players whose exploits on the football field have become the stuff of legend. In fact, they are so famous that fans need only mention their first name, surname, or nickname and everyone knows who they're talking about: Cruyff, Messi, Pele, Maradona, Ronaldo.

All are (or have been) household names across the world: prodigious strikers with record-breaking careers.

Typically, in comparing them, the key 'yardsticks' of greatness are goal tally and medal haul. And that's where assessing individual greatness becomes difficult. Most fans would agree that Maradona deserves a place among this soccer elite. Yet, despite leading Argentina to World Cup victory in 1986, he scored just 34 goals in his international career. (Also, for most England fans, his 'hand of God' goal remains the unpardonable sin of soccer!)

Consider Johan Cruyff, the dazzling striker who played for Ajax, Barcelona and the Netherlands. He gained three European Cup winner medals but was never part of a World Cup winning side. Yet, because tournament success relies on the overall team performance, it's doubtful whether medal haul is a fair gauge of individual greatness.

In the end, for soccer fans, the G.O.A.T. debate inevitably boils down to two players from very different eras of the game: Pele and Messi.

Initially, there doesn't appear to be much that separates them. Pele scored 77 goals in his 92-game international career. In contrast, Messi scored 71 goals in 140 international matches. So, Pele's goal-per-game ratio is 0.93 compared to 0.80 for Messi and 0.73 for Ronaldo.

Nevertheless, ‘assists’ is the one final measure that could settle this dispute once and for all. An assist is attributed to the last player to pass the ball to the eventual goal-scorer. Surprisingly, despite their keen ambition to score goals themselves, Pele, Messi and Ronaldo have all been remarkably generous in creating opportunities for others.

So, the stats show that Ronaldo contributed 229 assists in 1096 matches and Messi contributed 318 assists in 950 matches.

And Pele? Well, staggeringly, he provided 343 assists in just 812 matches. And, to my mind, that exceptional generosity makes him stand head and shoulders above other contenders for G.O.A.T.

The moral to this story? Well, if conspicuous success in our endeavours for the gospel is analogous to ‘scoring goals’, then, in the kingdom of God, greatness is never measured that way. Instead, true greatness is revealed in our ‘assists’: when we serve others with generous and inconspicuous support and by creating opportunities for others to realise their full potential.

As Jesus said: 'The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.' (Matthew 23:11)

In the kingdom of God, greatness does not amount to how often we 'put the ball in the back of the net' or any other similar metaphor of success. Instead, God sees greatness in our ‘assists’. As Paul explained in Philippians 2:3, 4: 'Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.'

And it’s those inconspicuous assists that God will remember and reward in eternity.

During this football championship, as we consider exceptional performances that reflect enduring greatness in sport, let us remember Christ’s example of unassuming servanthood as our inspiration to be more involved in ‘assists’ than in just ‘scoring goals’ for His kingdom.