This started with one tour that was done badly.
And a conviction that players deserve better than the version most operators are selling.
• How it beganIt began by accident, on somebody else’s tour.
Lee Cullip has spent his whole working life in soccer. He played professionally, and today he owns a youth club in Houston. Once a year, the club took its players to Europe.
On one of those early trips - organized by a large tour company - Lee stood at Manchester City with a squad of American kids and a best friend who happened to be the assistant coach of City’s first team. He offered to take the group anywhere in the building. The tour guide said no. Doing it for one group would mean having to offer it to every group.
That answer never sat right. These were children standing meters from the place their heroes worked.
Not long after, Chelsea told Lee’s club they’d genuinely enjoyed hosting them. Then a friend’s club asked whether Lee could organize the same trip for them. He said yes, thinking of it as fundraising rather than a business. Then another club asked. Offside Explorers has been growing that way ever since - by word of mouth, one club at a time.
• The standards we setFive things we do differently and will keep doing.
1.
The person who sells you the tour travels on it.
Lee is on every Offside Explorers tour. You deal with him from the first conversation to the last day, and you deal with him in Europe as well as in Texas.
2.
Academy staff coach the sessions. We put it in writing.
Not foundation staff. Not part-time coaches brought in for visiting groups. When we say your players will be coached by the host club’s academy staff, that is what has been agreed with the club.
3.
We won’t grow past twenty clubs.
Our aim is fifteen to twenty long-term partner clubs that travel with us regularly. Beyond that we could not personally lead every tour, and personally leading every tour is the whole point.
4.
We don’t book your flights.
We tell you when to arrive and recommend a flight, then leave the booking to you. It means families can fly out early or stay on afterwards and turn the tour into a proper trip to Europe. Most operators won’t do this because it costs them a margin.
5.
We pay for the moments that aren’t in the itinerary.
Getting players in front of a professional player usually costs extra. We generally cover it ourselves, because those are the ten minutes they’ll still be describing in fifteen years.
• Home of the Two Leg TourWhy two cities beat one.
Most tours settle in one place for a week. Players train at one club, play the local opposition, see one city and fly home.
We split the week. Two destinations, two host clubs, two soccer cultures — Copenhagen and Malmö, Vienna and Prague, Milan and Lake Como. Real growth happens across environments, not inside one. A squad that adapts twice in seven days learns faster than a squad that settles in once.
Adaptability
Two coaching philosophies in one week forces players to read new instructions, new teammates and new expectations quickly.
Perspective
Two cities, two cultures, two ways of loving the same game. Players come home with a bigger idea of soccer and of the world.
A Higher Standard
Players return with a new reference point for what a serious training environment looks like, and it raises the level of everyone around them.
• The people who travel with youIntentionally small teams.
Three of us run every tour. You’ll know all of us by the end of the week.
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LEE CULLIP
Founder
Lee has spent his career in soccer as a player, coach and club owner. He played professionally, including time at Chelsea, and today owns a youth club in Houston. He travels on every Offside Explorers tour and is the person clubs deal with from first Inquiry to final whistle.
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SIMEON STEWARD
Co-Founder
A former professional player, Simeon brings the international relationships and technical insight behind our partner network and the standard of soccer our players walk into.
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KACEY PARISH
Marketing Director
Kacey looks after how Offside Explorers communicates with clubs and families and makes sure the story of every tour gets told properly when the squad gets home.
• AmbassadorsBev Goebel — Head Coach, Racing Louisville FC
Bev Goebel is Head Coach of Racing Louisville FC and an ambassador for Offside Explorers. Bev helps shape and champion our international experiences, bringing the perspective of a professional coach to how we connect young players with the global game.
Through selected tours, events and player experiences, Bev will help us inspire players to think bigger about where football can take them.
If you’re taking a squad to Europe, let’s talk early.
We plan most tours twelve to eighteen months ahead, and take a small number of clubs each year. Tell us who your players are and where you’d like to go.