"It matters a great deal who is going to win, but not at all who won"
Identity
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1Peter 2:9
All people need to know that we are loved for who we are, not just because of what we do. As sportspeople we need to know that we are important to others, regardless of how we perform on any given day. Our faith helps us experience personal wholeness by teaching us that God and fellow believers love us as we are.
Many competitors make the mistake of thinking that becoming a champion will satisfy their need for approval. It never does, so we experience a let-down after we win. Sportspeople who know that we are loved apart from our performance are better able to enjoy winning, because we don't expect victory to give them something it can't - personal wholeness.
When we realize how special we are to God - a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and that we belong to God, we know our real worth. We know that our value to God is unaffected by whether we play in the Premier League or administer in the local club. We are freed to serve Him where he has placed us.