Liverpool FC International Academy - Michigan
Tax status: unverified — academy operates as a Liverpool FC-branded affiliate; no Form 990 located in ProPublica’s Michigan results for “Liverpool” or related strings. Almost certainly a for-profit licensing structure, but Michigan corporate filings needed to confirm.
Overview
Liverpool FC International Academy Michigan (LFC IA Michigan, or “LFCIAMI”) is a multi-site youth soccer academy licensed under the Liverpool Football Club international brand. The Michigan academy is headquartered at the UWM Sports Complex (formerly Ultimate Soccer Arenas) in Pontiac, Oakland County, and is reported to be the largest Liverpool international academy globally, fielding approximately 1,500 players across 115 teams and 80+ staff.
The club operates a hub-and-spoke geographic footprint with six regional branches: Ann Arbor, North Oakland, South Oakland, Hartland, Windsor (Ontario, Canada), and Mississauga (Ontario, Canada). The cross-border Canadian operations are unusual — most U.S. youth clubs do not run sanctioned competitive programs in two countries — and reflect the Detroit-Windsor metro’s integrated soccer market.
Legal/Ownership Structure
The Michigan academy is owned/operated by Andy Wagstaff, who holds the public title of “Liverpool FC Michigan Owner & President” (per the March 2021 partnership press with Vardar SC). The relationship to Liverpool FC (England) is a licensing/affiliate arrangement under the global “Liverpool FC International Academy” program; LFC IA brands operate in multiple U.S. states (Maryland, Virginia, others) and internationally. There is no public 990 filing under “Liverpool FC International Academy Michigan” or “Liverpool Soccer” in Michigan on ProPublica, and the licensing-brand model with a single owner-operator is consistent with an LLC / for-profit structure rather than a 501(c)(3). tax_status: unverified pending Michigan corporate filings.
Teams & Players
- Players: ~1,500 (HIGH confidence; widely cited in 2025-2026 coverage)
- Teams: ~115 (HIGH confidence)
- Staff: 80+ (HIGH confidence)
- Age range: U7-U19 boys and girls
A material driver of the 2021 girls-side scale step-up was the merger of Vardar SC’s older girls teams (U13-U19) into Liverpool FC Michigan’s program ahead of the 2021-22 ECNL Girls season, unifying over 600 female players across the combined entity.
League Affiliations
- ECNL Girls — Central conference (U13-U19, post-Vardar merger)
- ECNL Regional League (Boys and Girls) — Greater Michigan Alliance founding member
- MSPSP — Michigan State Premier Soccer Program
- USL Youth League — boys pathway
- NAL (National Academy League) / Hartland affiliate
Facilities
Primary training and competition venue is the UWM Sports Complex (formerly Ultimate Soccer Arenas), 867 South Boulevard East, Pontiac, MI 48341. The complex spans roughly 20,000 sq ft of seating-area footprint with 1,650 permanent seats, a full-service restaurant, coffee shop, and on-site soccer retail. UWM Sports Complex is one of Michigan’s largest dedicated indoor/outdoor soccer facilities and was rebranded from Ultimate Soccer Arenas after the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee naming arrangement.
Additional Central-region venues include the Evolution Sports Dome and partnerships with several Bloomfield Hills / West Bloomfield / Avondale / North Hills public-school facilities, plus Wisner Stadium.
Leadership
- Andy Wagstaff — Owner & President
- Ben Jones — LFC Central Director of Coaching
- Karen Parker — LFC Central Director of Administration
- Kevin Garner — LFC Michigan Director of Coaching
- Demir Muftari — Central ECNL Girls Director of Coaching (joined from Vardar in 2021 girls-side merger)
- Emma Voelker — Central ECNL RL & MSPSP Girls Director
- Jenn Perkins — Central ECNL/ECNL RL Girls Programs Director
- Jenna Taylor — Girls U7-U12 Technical Director; Minis & Junior Academy Director; Camps Director
- Simon Omekanda — U13-U19 Technical Director (boys); Minis & Junior Academy Assistant Director
- Justin Kane — Boys U7-U12 Technical Director
- Jake Nunner — Central Goalkeeping Director
Competitive Position
Liverpool FC IA Michigan is one of the two or three largest youth clubs in Michigan by player count and is the leading girls-side ECNL franchise in the state following its 2021 merger with Vardar SC’s older girls teams. The Liverpool FC brand affiliation is a significant recruiting differentiator — both for player acquisition (parents value the brand) and for coaching recruitment (the international academy network provides visibility). The club competes with Vardar on the boys side (Vardar holds the MLS Next franchise; Liverpool runs USL Youth and ECNL-RL), and with Nationals SC, Michigan Hawks, and Michigan Jaguars across various age and gender combinations.
The Canadian-side branches in Windsor and Mississauga give the club a recruiting funnel into Ontario players that few U.S. clubs can match.
Industry Context
LFC IA Michigan exemplifies the international-brand affiliate model: a U.S.-domiciled operator licenses a global club’s brand to differentiate its youth program in a market where the underlying soccer product (coaching, league access, facilities) is broadly commoditized at the elite tier. Other examples include Real Madrid Foundation programs, Manchester City affiliates, and the broader Liverpool International Academy network (which operates in roughly a dozen U.S. states). The economics of these arrangements typically involve a licensing fee paid to the parent club, in exchange for branding rights, occasional coach exchanges, and marketing materials — but governance, financial responsibility, and operational control sit with the local operator.
The 2021 absorption of Vardar’s older girls program is industry-notable: it consolidated what had been competing ECNL Girls programs into a single dominant Michigan franchise, with Vardar retaining the boys-side ECNL Girls / MLS Next focus and Liverpool taking the girls-side ECNL teams. This kind of cross-club program consolidation, with a personnel migration (Demir Muftari moved with the program), is a recurring pattern in markets with multiple legacy ECNL franchises.
Open Questions
- Confirmed legal entity (LLC, S-Corp) and Michigan corporate-filings registration
- Annual revenue and EBITDA
- Licensing fee paid to Liverpool FC (England)
- Owned vs. licensed facility footprint at UWM Sports Complex (lease terms, anchor tenant economics)
- Cross-border operational structure for Windsor / Mississauga branches
- Boys-side ECNL pathway — currently ECNL-RL only, full ECNL Boys not yet attained