A CHESS set designed to celebrate the “cult heroes” of Scotland Euro’s squad who were pivotal in helping the team reach this summer's tournament has been revealed.
Best friends Michael O’Donnell and Alex Duff, who set up 3D Scotland after graduating from Glasgow University and the Glasgow School of Art, designed the chess set out of “a labour of love” for the squad in the run-up for this summer’s Euros.
The 3D-printed set features the key players who “drove the squad” to qualify for the tournament as it features Andy Robertson as the king, Steve Clarke as the queen, and John McGinn as the bishop.
O’Donnell said the set basically picked itself as Callum McGregor is the rook and Scott McTominay the knight and the Euro trophy as the Pawn.
READ MORE: Tennent’s Race to Germany finalists announced before Euros
Only one player was on the fringe of contention, Lydon Dykes, and O’Donnell admits it was lucky they didn’t pick him after he was ruled out of the Scotland squad after suffering an injury in training.
There was also a moment between the two best friends where O’Donnell suggested Clarke should be in the set, but Duff mistakenly thought he meant Hearts’ shot-stopper Zander Clark, and not the Scotland boss.
O’Donnell, who is co-founder and designer for 3D Scotland, said he wanted to pay tribute to the squad as the run-up to this year's Euros has been such a great feeling for all Scotland fans.
He said: “We have been following Scotland for obviously all our life and we've never had much success.
“I know we obviously qualified for the Euros last time but it was for the Nations League and it was kind of like we just got there.
“We didn't really do very well, but there's a real different feeling this time. “Like we beat Norway away with two goals in the last minute. We beat Spain. We've got a great team.
“There's just a great feeling and there's almost a cult status for some of the players and the national team at the moment.
“We just kind of were like we should do this tribute to them because it's been such a great run.”
The set took five months to create as each player’s head was molded, like clay, digitally and the printing process for each piece can take between four to eight hours.
The Scotland Euros squad isn’t the first football team chess set the pair have designed as they have also made a Celtic and Rangers set too.
And it’s not just football chess sets they create either as one of their best sellers is Edinburgh vs Glasgow.
The set includes some of the most iconic buildings and statues from the two cities including Edinburgh Castle, the Duke of Wellington with the cone on his head, and the Sir Walter Scott Monument.
The Glasgow chess set was the first set the pair designed together as O’Donnell said 3D Scotland was founded because the pair wanted to work together and thought people would love Glasgow just as much as they both do.
The Scotland Euro 2024 chess set is available to buy at £169.99, with a mini set available for £74.99.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here