COLCHESTER United will wear a special one-off home shirt for their Essex derby against Southend United later this season - which money can't buy.

U's fans will be able to snap up one of the unique shirts with Loyal Supporter tokens, built up through the purchase of iFollow streaming passes for the club's forthcoming games.

Every time an iFollow stream is bought, fans will be given an iFollow Loyal Supporter Token with each token having a unique token number.

And when fans have collected 25 tokens, they will have built up enough to get their hands on a very rare U's shirt.

U's chairman Robbie Cowling is hoping the scheme will help to incentivise fans to buy iFollow passes and give them something back in return.

Colchester are hoping that the innovative scheme, which will also give fans the chance to obtain club merchandise and have their name on a 'Wall of Honour' at the stadium, will help bring in some much-needed revenue at a crucial time, with supporters currently unable to watch games at the JobServe Community Stadium due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The design of the one-off shirt to be worn by the U's against Southend later this season will be voted for by supporters.

In a statement on the U's website, chairman Cowling said: "For our game against Southend on April 20th 2021, the team will be running out in a one-off home shirt and this shirt will never be put on general sale because no amount of actual money can buy this shirt.

"The only way to own this particular home shirt will be with twenty five personal iFollow Tokens.

"At the end of the season, the 18 one-off shirts that were actually worn in the game against Southend will be signed by the squad and these will be won by 18 lucky fans whose iFollow Token Number is drawn in an end of season draw.

"The one-off shirt will need to be selected from the Macron Catalogue.

"The club will select three versions from their standard range and over the Christmas period, we will create a system where fans can vote for the one we will actually wear.

"One iFollow Loyal Supporter Token will allow the token holder one vote.

"Therefore, a token holder who has accumulated fifteen tokens can have fifteen votes.

"A few other items of club merchandise will also be created with the Loyal Supporter branding such as a scarf, a mug and a car sticker so that the majority of tokens can be converted into something to show that a fan supported its club during its time of need.

"Any fan that buys every stream from now until the end of this season will also have their name on a tile that will be placed on a ‘Wall of Honour’ in the Legends bar, where it will remain for at least five seasons.

"A few other items of club merchandise will also be created with the Loyal Supporter branding such as a scarf, a mug and a car sticker so that the majority of tokens can be converted into something to show that a fan supported its club during its time of need.

"Any fan that buys every stream from now until the end of this season will also have their name on a tile that will be placed on a ‘Wall of Honour’ in the Legends bar, where it will remain for at least five seasons."