How a fan's dying wish led a Dutch football team to a tartan kit

FC Twente will debut a tartan-inspired kit this weekend, honouring a friendship between Dutch and Scottish fans that began when terminally-ill supporter Dennis Van Unen's dying wish to see an Old Firm match was granted in 2006.

FC Twente will wear a special tartan-inspired shirt in their Eredivisie match away to AZ Alkmaar this weekend, commemorating an unlikely 18-year friendship between the Dutch club's fans and supporters from Stranraer, Scotland. The bond began in 2006 when Dennis Van Unen, a Twente fan with terminal cancer, met Stranraer supporters Jim McKie and James Hilton at a match in Enschede. The two Scots helped fulfil Dennis's dying wish by securing tickets to an Old Firm match between Celtic and Rangers at Ibrox and Celtic Park. After Dennis's death the following year, the friendship endured through regular reciprocal visits between Twente and Stranraer fans, a tradition that continues today and is now celebrated through the new kit.