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Entering the small studio tasked with containing this ambitious livewire of a football drama, the action is already in full swing. Charlton Athletic’s Victory and Youssef, in Nigeria to try out for the last two spots on the country’s World Cup squad, are doing drills, while their coach (a buoyant Jerome Ngonadi) collars audience members to take penalties. I miss spectacularly; the production does quite the opposite.

Part of the Ryan Calais Cameron season – the Olivier-nominated playwright chose three early-career Black and Global Majority writers to receive financial backing and mentorship – its writer, Justice Ezi, is a clear talent, asking expansive questions about racism, belonging and the sometimes-shadowy business of sport through the experiences of three men and, in particular, their relationships to their Nigerian heritage.

It’s the last chance for striker Victory (a heartbreakingly frantic Benjamin Akintuyosi) to play for the country he grew up in, and change his young family’s life. Alexander Lobo Moreno’s subtly conflicted goalkeeper Youssef, raised in England, is outwardly more concerned with his social media following, aloof ex-footballer dad, and a potential offer from team Morocco, his mother’s birth country. But when Michael, a wealthy white Arsenal star who left Nigeria at five (and who is anointed with the breezy optimism of privilege by Cameron Forrest) unexpectedly joins the trial, discussions of who deserves a place begin to revolve as much around who can speak Igbo or cook pounded yam as who can score or save a winning shot.

Well-paced and plotted, if a little unwieldy towards the end, Ezi’s script is also extremely funny. Michael is a “skinny, flat white”, there are bleakly comic swipes at England’s racist fans, and many a joke rooted in the joys of Nigerian culture. Its depiction of gameplay is bold, and director Kalungi Ssebandeke does remarkably in the small space with the help of excellent movement work by Gabrielle Nimo. The final selection match, accompanied by pulse-racing sound and lighting, and two suspended goals, which turn green when someone scores, is genuinely nail-biting.

Ezi doesn’t leave us with neat answers. Even the morally questionable hiring decisions of Nigeria’s assistant manager Zanza Azuka (played with swaggering relish by Kossim Osseni) have arguable merits. And all the better for it; its nuances make this production as challenging and thought-provoking as it is entertaining and poignant.

• At Broadway, Catford until 12 July