Belief in those running football damaged top to bottom (5)
I believe the answer is:
faith
'belief' is the definition.
(I know that faith is a type of belief)
'those running football damaged top to bottom' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'top' could be 'ai' (resembles A1, term for excellent) and 'ai' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for faith that I've seen before include "It goes with hope and charity" , "'..... will move mountains'" , "Unshakeable belief" , "Total trust" , "Confidence" .)