The Football Academy NJ
Tax status: for-profit (no IRS 990 filing on record under this or related names; ZoomInfo lists Mark Cassidy as Owner)
Overview
The Football Academy NJ (commonly “The FA”) is a Florham Park, NJ youth soccer organization founded in 2020. It positions itself as both a soccer educational company and an elite competitive club. The operation is for-profit and owner-operated by Mark Cassidy, who also owns Scottish Football Academy and previously held roles at Centercourt Football Club (CFC) and Centercourt Sports Academy.
Headquarters: 76 Passaic Ave, Florham Park, NJ 07932 — co-located with The Florham Park Sports Dome and Events Center, the club’s primary indoor venue. Programs run U7 through U18/U19 on both the boys and girls sides.
Financials
No public 990 (for-profit). Revenue is not publicly disclosed. The dual MLS NEXT + Girls Academy footprint plus indoor dome operations imply a non-trivial scale, but specific figures are not available. (LOW confidence on size estimates.)
Teams & Players
Player count and team count not disclosed. Programs span U7–U18/U19 across boys and girls sides, with both full club teams and select / camp / clinic programming. Recent competitive milestones include Girls Academy promotion from the GA Aspire platform and MLS NEXT Flex qualification for the boys 2010 and 2011 age groups.
League Affiliations
- MLS NEXT — both Homegrown Division and Academy Division (per club website, 2026)
- Girls Academy — full member (2025–26 season, post-Aspire promotion)
- GA Aspire — feeder/development tier under Girls Academy
- EDP Soccer
- USYS National League (via EDP pathway)
- New Jersey Youth Soccer
Facilities
- The Florham Park Sports Dome and Events Center — primary indoor venue, 76 Passaic Ave, Florham Park
- Kantor Fields — additional outdoor venue
The dome co-location is a competitive advantage in the NJ winter season, providing year-round controlled training space. The indoor sports operation generates ancillary revenue from camps, clinics, leagues, futsal, and adult play.
Leadership
- Mark Cassidy — Owner. Background includes Scottish Football Academy ownership and prior tenure with Centercourt FC and Centercourt Sports Academy.
- Errol McFarlane — MLS NEXT and MLS2 Academy Director. U.S. Soccer Grassroots Instructor; background in curriculum development; played professionally with Queen’s Park FC. (As of 2026, also listed as Chief Program Officer at Super Soccer Stars per LinkedIn — dual-role status.)
Competitive Position
The FA is one of the newest entrants among Morris County / North Jersey elite-pathway clubs. Acquiring both MLS NEXT and Girls Academy memberships within roughly five years of founding is a fast platform-credentialing arc; most peer clubs took longer. The Florham Park location places it in the middle of a competitive corridor that includes PDA (Somerset/Morris border), Cedar Stars Academy branches, SURF, and NJ Stallions (Clifton).
Industry Context
For-profit, owner-operated dual-elite-pathway clubs of this profile have become more common in the post-DA youth-soccer era, as MLS NEXT and Girls Academy adopted lower entry barriers than the Development Academy did. Co-location with an indoor dome (owned or partner-operated) provides a structural revenue advantage relative to outdoor-only nonprofits, which lose three to four months of training revenue annually in the Northeast climate. Within the Morris County / Essex County corridor, The FA’s emergence has added another elite-pathway option to a market already served by PDA, CSA, and Real Jersey FC.
Open Questions
- Annual revenue and roster size
- Legal entity name (LLC, Inc., or DBA) and ownership structure
- Florham Park Sports Dome ownership — same owner as The FA, or third-party landlord
- Errol McFarlane’s actual day-to-day involvement given dual Super Soccer Stars role
- College placement track record for the early MLS NEXT cohorts