For one Scotland-mad footie fan from Aberdeen all his dreams have come true – thanks to his six-year-old daughter.
But things could have been quite different if Joe Thomas hadn’t taken a look in his spam folder.
Annabella Thomas has been picked as a Euro 2024 mascot for Scotland when they take on Switzerland in Cologne on June 19.
Joe entered her into a competition run by supermarket, Lidl, in which thousands of people applied.
“I have supported Scotland my entire life but I have never got to a game before. My family and friends all support the team, and we love football,” he told The Press and Journal.
“I saw an advert on my Lidl app that said ‘get your kid to be a mascot at the Euros’.
“I put Annabella’s name down for a competition but when I didn’t hear anything more, I just thought that was that.”
A few weeks later, Joe was looking for something in his spam folder in his emails when he found one inviting his wee girl to become a mascot.
“When I found the email we only had two days to reply or the prize was going to someone else,” he said.
The Donald Russell quality controller said the last-minute discover “means so much”.
“I will be creating memories that last a lifetime with my daughter,” he said.
“The boys at work were saying to me ‘you could sell the tickets’, but this trip means more than anything to me. There is no amount of money that anyone could pay that would stop us from going.
“This means more to me than money.”
As for Annabella, she had to dash to get a passport as she has never been abroad before.
The Gilcomstoun Primary School is happy about winning the prize but is more excited about going on a plane for the first time.
Her dad continued: “It is Annabella’s first time on a plane and her first time abroad. We fly into Amsterdam and then head to Colone for the match, so she will be in two new countries.
“I don’t think that she has quite taken it all in, as you can imagine.
“She is very excited.”
Both will, of course, be donning the Scotland kit for the duration of their epic trip.
“I will be wearing my Scotland kit, and Annabella will be getting an outfit from Lidl,” he said.
“We are high as kites about it, and we want to make Scotland proud.”