Andrea Lai, a 39-year-old from Imola in Italy, traveled alone from Italy to Northern Ireland last week to attend Coleraine FC's final league game of the season against Glentoran.

Lai has played the Football Manager video game series for nearly 20 years. Seven years ago he selected Coleraine at random as his team to manage in the game. He has since won multiple virtual trophies with the club in the game.

Coleraine won the match 6-2 on Saturday. The result secured second place in the league and a European competition spot for next season, the first since 2022.

Lai supports Bologna in Italy as well as Coleraine. He purchased items from the club's online shop and followed the real team. He described the trip as wonderful and noted the distance had previously deterred him.

During the visit Lai met players and staff, including Will Patching who scored a hat-trick, and manager Ruaidhri Higgins.

Lai plans to follow Coleraine's Irish Cup final against Dungannon Swifts this weekend from Italy. He expects the club to have a strong chance of victory.