Premier League and England star Bukayo Saka has the perfect antidote to World Cup heartache: his Bible.
The 21-year-old Arsenal and Three Lions midfielder, pictured above, was a starter in his country’s gut-wrenching quarter-final defeat to France at the 2022 World Cup.
He was one of England’s standout performers across the Qatar tournament, announcing himself as a superstar on the international football stage.
But he was concentrating on something even more important to him than football during the tournament, and was happy to tell the world’s media about it before that fateful France game.
“I read my Bible every night. I’ve been continuing to do that out here,” he told journalists in Qatar.
“It’s really important to have the presence of God in me all the time and it gives me more confidence to know that God’s plan is perfect so I can go on the pitch and know God has my back.
“The main thing for me is keeping my faith. Having faith in God so I don’t need to be nervous or worry about any outcomes because obviously it’s my first World Cup. Instead I choose to put my faith in God.”
The first line of his Instagram bio says he’s “God’s child”, which reflects his Christian faith.
“I grew up in a Christian family who believe strongly in God,” he revealed. “This always made me curious to get to know God more and I have done so by reading my Bible a lot and going to church a lot over the years.
“When we were growing up we were taught by our parents to have faith in God.
“When you’re younger you don’t fully understand. But throughout life, you keep exercising your faith, so when you get into different challenges, you decide, ‘This time I’m going to trust God’, and God comes through for you.
“That’s how it kept building and building for me, so I can be confident and go into places knowing that God’s got me.”
It’s served him well during a difficult international career which, before the France defeat, included him missing the decisive penalty kick in England’s 2021 European Championship final defeat to Italy at Wembley.
Online racist abuse followed, and his faith was clearly at work in his response that love, ultimately, would win.
He attended The Edward Betham Church of England Primary School, which has a strong Christian ethos, and recently helped out in a Year Five topic: ‘Do fame and Christian faith go together?’
In Saka’s case, the answer’s even more obvious than his incredible football talent.
From New Life Newspaper issue 339
