THE DONEGAL SOFT drink, Football Special, is destined for the shelves of Lidl from September, the family-owned company behind the cult product has confirmed. 

Revered across the county of Donegal – and also enjoyed further south – Football Special has been made by the McDaid’s family business since the 1940s. 

Speaking to The Journal, the company’s marketing associate Izzy Williams explained that the original Football Special drink – then named Football Cup – was invented to celebrate the successes of the local football club, Ramelton’s Swilly Rovers. 

“They wanted a drink that they could pour into cups,” she said, “and then they would drink from the cups to celebrate the success of them winning.”

The local football club was a successful team back in its day, and Football Special was created “purely for that reason”. 

Now there are a whole array of Football Special products including a “craft soda retro range”, a “classic” range, pub trade, and even ice cream. The products are stocked in Counties Dublin, Meath, Wicklow, Kildare, Monaghan, Derry, Belfast and Mayo, among others. It’s also on sale in Britain in the London Irish Centre. 

Lidl will sell the drink in its 220 Irish stores for a limited time as part of its Kickstarter programme for small Irish businesses, following a Dragon’s Den-style pitching process.

Customers will have a chance to win a year’s supply of Football Special through scanning a QR code on the Lidl bottles. To enter, fans of the drink will have to say what it tastes like.

“We want people to give us their most creative answers,” Williams said.

“You can get the most random responses from people. So it’s funny what people will come up with. We’re looking for the most entertaining answer as to what people think Football Special tastes like.”

Derry - Donegal heritage. pic.twitter.com/sNnNH0m0Qp

— Eoin Sheahan (@EoinSheahan) April 20, 2024

Williams said that the company gets a varied response on the taste profile of the drink – “it’s kind of completely unique”. 

In its home county of Donegal, Football Special has reached a status of being the soft drink equivalent of Daniel O’Donnell. Mugs, tea towels, beach towels, and subscription boxes can be purchased from its website – as well as socks, hoodies, and gift cards. 

Football Special-themed wedding favours are apparently a not-unpopular fixture in Donegal either. 

The drink has been popular for years now, Williams said, but now it’s reaching a new audience. 

“People in their thirties or older, I would say, are the main people who would drink it, but then obviously they’re passing it on and introducing it to their kids now. So you’ll get young kids trying it for the first time and being really excited about it,” she said.