Elf keeping the team in food (5)
I believe the answer is:
pixie
'elf' is the definition.
(I know that elf can be written as pixie)
'the team in food' is the wordplay.
'the team' becomes 'XI' (a football team, from Roman numerals for pp).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'food' becomes 'pie' (pie is a kind of food).
'xi' put within 'pie' is 'PIXIE'.
'keeping' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for pixie that I've seen before include "Mischievous fairy" , "Sprite" , "Little person" , "Small supernatural being in fairy tale" , "Creature like fairy or elf" .)