This commercial tells the story of Qaiser, a British Asian teenager who plays in the Midnight Ramadan League. Qaiser is tired at the end of a day of fasting, but his younger sister Aaminah kicks a ball at him and says, “stop being lazy.” After Iftar, Qaiser heads out to join the rest of the Midnight Ramadan League on the pitch. When his energy lags and a tackle knocks him to the ground, a professional footballer – Leicester City mid-fielder and Fifa ambassador Hamza Choudhury – suddenly appears to encourage him, saying, “if I can do this, so can you.”

The action quickly switches between a Fifa game and real life, where Qaiser helps his team win the match before hurrying home to play with his sister. It ends with the tagline: “Inspire the next generation.”

The film takes place during the Muslim festival of Ramadan. During this time, it’s very difficult for football players of all skill levels to continue playing due to fasting during daylight hours.

The Midnight Ramadan League was created for this very reason. Its founder Obayed Hussain wanted to create a safe place for young football players in Birmingham to play after they break their fast and have the energy to play football.

The film also raises further cultural issue of South Asians in football. Stats show that just 0.25% of professional footballers are Asian, compared to 7% of the population being Asian. The film shines a light on inspiring more Asian footballers to emerge at all skill levels.

We felt passionate that we must stay true to the story, and cast from existing players of the Midnight Ramadan League.

This sparked a wonderful journey. We met with almost every player in the league, interviewing them, meeting their families and getting a sense of their lives, passions, football background and relationship with Ramadan.

Once the hero emerged, we spent time with him amongst his family and friends. We joined them at prayer time, meal times, family gatherings and of course during training. It was an incredibly humbling experience at how welcoming the community was to us as film makers.

We continued this relationship long after the shoot. Qaiser was given a work placement after expressing a desire to enter the industry.