Pelé made the term popular when playing for Brazil and then in the USA.

We have certainly seen it in this round of hosting the World Cup in North America. Sadly, some Americans just can’t get it, but it is a Beautiful Game, and it’s been a beautiful expression of the world here in USA, Canada, and Mexico.

It is beautiful for many reasons:

  1. The skill, artistry, athleticism are just where it starts. The ability to control a ball, the ball flight, the height, the curvature, no it’s not easy, nor is a beautiful work of art easy to create, but that’s what makes it beautiful.
  2. It’s beautiful because it is a worldwide sport that has been part of culture all over the world for 3,000 years.
  3. It is beautiful because it can be played with many different balls or substitutes for balls. It can be played with great equipment or no equipment. It can be played by young and old, tall and short, rich and poor, and when unable to participate it can be enjoyed for the beauty of it.
  4. Americans have struggled to grasp it for many reasons. Americans tend to like short term rewards, a hit, a walk, a strikeout, a homerun. a First Down, the Ability to bang into one another and physically block, or take down a player, a Touchdown, and Interception, we want it to come quickly. High scores are enjoyed by American fans, when a basket wasn’t good enough, we wanted a three-point shot. When a layup wasn’t enough, we liked a Slam-dunk. When a goal wasn’t good enough on ice, we wanted to see a fight. When a wrestling match was over too fast, too unpredictable, someone wanted to create a “soap-opera” in a choreographed athletic event and call it “pro-wrestling”.
  5. Futbol, Football, or Soccer is a Beautiful Game because it is much more like life. Anyone can compete. We must work together, think proactively, get in position, pay attention, be patient, stay at it when you are tired, just like life. An American Football game has 60 minutes on the clock, has commercials and all that may last over Three Hours to complete – and yet, action is only about 11-12 minutes, but a Futbol/Soccer game, 90 minutes of Play – and that might be with only a goal or two scored. Just like life, we stay at it, and get successes in short opportunities but it’s the doing that is Life.

Soccer / Futbol is a beautiful game – because it is a love of the game and a love of your team, and in World Cup, it is a Love for your Country. One of the Most Beautiful Things in this last month and with still another week to go has been the national expressions of pride, as well as appreciation for the other country’s pride.

The singing of National Anthems has been unlike any other sport expression. I love to have the opportunity to sing our National Anthem at sporting and community events, but that is a performance. You go to a baseball game or other sporting event, when the national anthem is sung, people are respectful, generally, but they aren’t participating. In the World Cup – just music is played and the Team and the Fans Sing their Hearts Out for their Country. It is loud, it is proud, it is Visceral!

I would add one other thing from my own experience. Yes, I played soccer as a boy and young man. Pelé came on the USA scene when I was at that age, and I wore his Adidas, NASL White Cleats with Red Studs on the bottom. As an Adult, I continued to play, coached a couple dozen teams as my sons were growing up. But I’m 61 years old, and I’ve been on Four Continents as a Tourist but also on short and long-term mission work and do you know what has been a common denominator as well as a vehicle to relate, but also to create opportunities to share my faith? The Beautiful Game. I’ve played it on Beautiful “Pitches” as well as on Dirt Fields with Large Rocks Protruding. I’ve played it in streets, inside buildings. I’ve talked about it and shifted to talking about the Greatest Game – Life – and what is available in Jesus Christ.

If you haven’t played, or watched, put down your flippant statements, and give it a watch, if for no other reason than to know what’s got the world so transfixed, and be able to have a conversation with someone from somewhere else.

It IS a Beautiful Game

Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people (CSB