Rewrite the def result_headers(cl)

add these 2 lines:

    .....
    .....
    th_classes = ['sortable']
    order_type = ''

    #new lines

    default_order_type = getattr(attr, "admin_order_first_type", None)
    new_order_type = default_order_type if default_order_type else 'asc'

    #end of new lines

    sort_priority = 0
    sorted = False
    ...
    ...

now in the ModelAdmin you can:

list_display = ('number_of_players', ....)

def number_of_players(self, team):
        return intcomma(team.number_of_players)

number_of_players.short_description = '# num of players'
number_of_players.admin_order_field = 'number_of_players'
number_of_players.admin_order_first_type = 'desc' #will make the column to be ordered desc first

I tested it and it works