Next month, Martin Tierney, the Director of coaching for Soccer Experience, has been invited to be the player/coach of a Master’s team (representing Japan) playing at the world famous Hong Kong Soccer 7’s.
Soccer Experience presently hold weekly adult football training sessions and 7 a-side Football League’s in Southern Tenerife.

Martin will be player/coach of the elite team made up of ex professionals who he used to play with during his professional playing days in Asia, they reached the semi finals last year in Hong Kong and plan to go a little further this year. One of Martin’s main objectives of playing in this elite tournament is too learn how well these tournaments are organized and introduce these successful techniques to the next Soccer Experience International Master’s Soccer 7’s tournament being held in Tenerife later in the year.
Another bonus is that Martin will meet up with some old friends who were top pros in the British game and he will chat with them about coming to the next tournament in Tenerife. Already planning to come to the next Tenerife tournament are the ex Leicester City team (present Sky Maters Champions team including Muzzy Izzett), Mark Walters is hoping to bring an ex Rangers F.C. team, and also Bruce Grobbelaar is trying to pull together an ex Liverpool team including the likes of John Barnes and Ian Rush.

Following is some information on the Hong Kong Tournament and hopefully one day the Soccer Experience International tournament in Tenerife will be a major part of the world Soccer 7’s circuit.

If you are a player interested in joining one of the Southern Tenerife weekly adult training sessions or if you want to play or even enter your own team for the next 7 a-side league starting in a few weeks please contact via email: soccer@soccerexperience.com with your playing history, age, when and what you want to play and your contact details. Or you can call: 654200470 for more information.

The HONG KONG International Soccer Sevens 2008 holds two very different tournaments over a weekend in May.

MAIN TOURNAMENT INCLUDES SOME OF THE VERY BEST YOUNG PLAYERS IN THE WORLD WHO SEND THEIR RESERVE TEAMS. JUST SOME OF THE CLUBS PLAYING THIS YEAR ARE:

West Ham United, Glasgow Celtic, Aston Villa, Glasgow Rangers, Urawa Red Diamonds, Australian U20 National Team, PSV Eindhoven, Inter Dubai and many more.

MASTERS TOURNAMENT (UNOFFICIAL OVER 40’s WORLD CUP)

Defending champions Aston Villa will head an impressive lineup of world famous clubs at the 2008 HONG KONG International Soccer Sevens next month; Villa will be joined by English Premier League rivals West Ham United and Scottish giants Rangers and Celtic in the showpiece, to be held at Hong Kong Football Club in May. “We’re very happy to be returning to the Soccer Sevens to defend the Cup we won last year,” said Villa manager Martin O’Neill. “It’s an excellent tournament that allows young players to express their skills and a visit to Hong Kong also provides them with an important life experience. We’ll be sending a strong squad and we’ll be doing our best to retain the trophy.” West Ham will be taking part in the Soccer Sevens for the first time since 2002 and will be looking to make an impact with the latest graduates from their famous youth academy.” The Soccer Sevens is a wonderful showcase for young footballers and West Ham are delighted to be taking part,” said Hammers manager Alan Curbishley. “We’re looking forward to playing in front of our fans in Hong Kong.”
Since it was first held in 1999, the tournament has developed into the world’s premier seven-a-side soccer event. The Main competition has become famous for unearthing the “stars of tomorrow” while the Masters section features former elite players from the world’s top leagues.

In the Masters competition, along with Martin Tierney’s team representing Japan, the Glasgow Rangers All Stars will feature some of the players who helped the club win nine Scottish League titles in a row from 1989 to 1997, including Gordon Durie, Mark Walters, Ian Ferguson, John Brown and Andy Goram. The Rangers All Stars have been drawn in Pool D, where they will encounter a Marseille All Stars team containing some of the legends of French football. The Barclays Wealth All Stars, who will include the great Peter Beardsley plus his former England colleagues Dave Beasant and Warren Barton, will be favorites to top Pool A in the Masters competition. “The 2008 HKFC Philips Lighting International Soccer Sevens promises to be the best yet,” said tournament chairman Tony Bratsanos.“Since it was first held nine years ago, the tournament has developed a reputation for Showcasing some of the brightest and most exciting young talent in world football. “Players such as Gabriel Agbonlahor, Liam Ridgewell, Justin Hoyte, Glen Johnson and Anton Ferdinand first came to the attention of Hong Kong fans at the Soccer Sevens and have since become established English Premier League players. “In addition, Shaun Maloney, Craig Beattie and Chris Burke all paraded their skills at Hong Kong Football Club before becoming Scotland internationals.

“I’m sure this year’s tournament will, once again, include some ‘stars of tomorrow’ who will soon be making headlines around the world.

“The Masters tournament, meanwhile, has attracted some of the greats of world football and, as we have seen in the past few years, the former pros take winning and losing in Hong Kong just as seriously as when they were at the height of their careers.”

(Taken from The Tenerife Sun)

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 at 1:10 am and is filed under Events, Sport, Tenerife. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.