01 — WHERE IT STARTED
From a field in America to Batu Kawan
Martin Tierney spent his playing career moving between countries as a professional, and the games that stuck were the ones against players he had grown up watching — Asian Champions League ties against the Brazilian internationals Zico and Jorginho.
What those weeks made obvious was how much a serious football trip changes a player, and how few teams ever get one. The company came out of trying to fix that. Later, that same idea produced fixtures against names like Marcel Desailly and a run of tournaments most amateur sides never get near.
02 — SELECTED PROJECTS
A few of the trips
Fourteen out of hundreds — the ones we still have the photographs for.
Pro teams in Spain
January 2020: Motherwell F.C.’s first team back in Spain with us for their winter training trip, as they had been for three years running.
Veterans teams in Asia
March 2020: we arranged and coached three sides at an international veterans tournament with players from a dozen countries. Our own veterans 7s has drawn ex-professionals like Michael Mols.
Youth teams in the UK
Thousands of youth players have enjoyed our UK trips, which usually include playing against pro academy teams at top facilities.
Youth teams in Barcelona
Many international teams come to Spain with us, and Barcelona or Madrid is a must for most of them during the tour.
Select teams in France
An invited group of players training and playing at the academy of Ligue 1 club OSC Lille.
Elite youth in Singapore
An elite youth group drawn from across Asia and Australia, who went undefeated in a pro academy 7s tournament in Singapore.
Helping top pro coaches
Working alongside professional first-team staff on their winter training camps in Spain.
Ex pros in Hong Kong
Player-coach to a side of ex-professionals at the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens, a tournament full of former stars.
The Rock of Gibraltar
Arranged and coached elite youth teams to play against Gibraltar national select sides.
Select teams in Italy
An invited group training and playing at the academy of Serie A giants AC Milan.
US colleges tour Spain
US women’s college teams travelling to Spain with us, as the level of the Spanish women’s clubs kept improving.
US colleges v big clubs
American college teams playing big clubs like Glasgow Celtic at their own training ground.
Select XI v Atlético Madrid
Touring sides put in front of the best opposition available — Atlético Madrid among them.
Elite youth coaching in Asia
The elite youth coaching in Asia that ran alongside the touring, and led directly to the Penang programme.
03 — BEYOND THE PITCH
Studios and scholarships
Two things ran alongside the touring for years: television work, and getting young players placed.
On the panel
Martin has worked as a football pundit for Astro Sports, covering the Premier League, LaLiga, the World Cup and the Euros — one of a long run of projects that came from staying in the game rather than leaving it.
Where the players went
Coaching youth for that long produces players. Ours have gone on to professional clubs and to university scholarships in the United States, placed through people we have known in the game for decades.
The one we are proudest of is Fergus Tierney — Martin's son, already a full Malaysian international and building a professional career in South East Asia.
Fergus Tierney's site04 — BUILDING GROUNDS
So we built our own
Twenty years of hiring pitches teaches you what a good one is worth. We built our first facility in Spain years ago; when Covid stopped the touring, we started again in northern Malaysia, this time properly.
Three FIFA-approved grounds followed — 9-a-side pitches at Tanjung Bungah, a 10s and 11s pitch in Georgetown, and, in partnership with IKEA, the ground at Batu Kawan. All of them open to the public, which was always the point: better surfaces for everyone in Penang, not just for the teams that can afford them.
05 — TODAY
Back to coaching kids
Since the grounds opened, thousands of children across Penang have come through Soccer Experience F.C. sessions, leagues and tournaments — which, twenty-five years on, is exactly where the company started.
The pitches are open to everyone else too: five-a-side regulars, corporate sides, school teams and anyone who fancies a game.
More about Soccer Experience06 — BOOKING
Play on them yourself
The grounds this all led to are bookable seven days a week. Call or WhatsApp with your date, venue and pitch size.
Three grounds across Penang · Instagram @soccerexperience.fc