To support the growth and development of our club, Liverpool Football Club International Academy (LFCIA) SoCal has named Liam Brader as their new Academy Manager. In his new role, Brader will report directly to new Technical Director, Paul Holohan, and oversee the Academy’s Administration.

“I’d like to welcome Liam to the Academy Manager role as we drive the process forward and excel to higher standards,” says Holohan. “Liam is the absolute ideal candidate with his attention to detail, his high standards personally, and professionally living the core values of Liverpool Football Club.”

In his new role, Brader will manage the club’s Academy Operations as it relates to all communication to its members, registration of players and staff, travel management for players and their coaches, and team scheduling.

“This has been a fast-moving time for Liverpool International Academy SoCal with the addition of the Boys Academy platform this season. We look now to keep striving forward and push our programs to the very top. I am excited for my role and helping everyone on and off the field to achieve their goals. Thank you to all the LFCIA family’s and players for the start we have made and the future we are looking forward too.”

Brader joined LFCIA in March 2020 first as their Boys Development Phase Leader and then advancing to Boys Academy Coach in June of 2020 where he excelled both on the field as well as in the LFCIA community. 

Paul Holohan has been named the new Technical Director for Liverpool Football Club International Academy (LFCIA) SoCal. In this newly created role, Holohan will oversee all aspects of the LFCIA SoCal competitive program from U8 to Adult, including the managing of the club, its coaches and teams.  With over 20 years of football coaching and development experience, this new role will give Holohan the opportunity to work hand with LFCIA’s CEO, Tim Woodcock, and COO, Dave Brown on all facets of the club’s growth and player development.

“Paul has proven to be an excellent leader during his time with Liverpool FC SoCal,” says Woodcock. “His experience and knowledge of youth soccer in the USA has been pivotal to the creation and development of our Boys Academy program.  He lives and breathes the ‘Liverpool Way’ and promotes the LFC Core Values to the staff, players and parents at every opportunity. Promoting Paul Holohan to the position of Technical Director is an absolute no brainer for our club and an exciting step in his career development.”

For the past two years Holohan has managed the youth development phase for LFCIA, and in his new role, he will continue to teach all its coaches and players the “Liverpool Way” and its Core Values. In addition, Holohan will ensure all LFCIA coaching accreditations and be responsible for individual player and team retention and club recruitment. 

“A year ago my main motivation for joining Liverpool FC International Academy SoCal was to build a competitive Academy atop of an already established Club, driving the process with standards, training environment, and methodology,” says Holohan. “Now I get to do this across the entire Liverpool FC International Academy and Club. While my main focus in the last year has been the creation of the Boys Academy program, I will now turn my attention to a wider view, to our whole club and driving the process throughout. I want to thank Tim Woodcock and the entire Board of Directors and leadership group for the trust and confidence they have shown in me.”

As Technical Director, Holohan will be fully responsible for the club’s successes and holding their coaches and players accountable for their performances both on and off the field. In addition, he will dedicate himself to create new opportunities for the club ensuring that all U8 to Adult teams achieve the positive results associated with the Liverpool Football Club.

The Elite Academy League has been born out of the West, starting with the Southwest Division forming the “MLS Elite” extended player pool/reserve league. The league will continue to build off the standards of the former DA and now the “MLS Elite”. This league will keep the standards, the prestige, and maintain each club’s high level program. This program being launched will build off of every valued principle, tested and proven within the DA; and is committed to being the top player development league in the United States. This program will replicate the DA program in all the best aspects of the former program, but with the added benefit of new improvements and innovations as determined by the collective experience and knowledge of the elite club members.

Purpose

The Elite Academy League is composed of member clubs primarily from the new “MLS Elite” Academy as well as other top competitive clubs, recommended by the conferences, and admitted by the Elite Academy League Technical Group.

The Elite Academy League is an Elite platform developed to address the needs of its membership primarily assisting with developing top players inside the elite club’s player pool. It allows the member clubs of the “MLS Elite,” to work together to promote the highest standards in competitive soccer, and integrate both leagues with this common goal and direction.

By unifying clubs from within the conferences, we have found a way to maintain the defining standards of the former DA, with the new enhanced standards of “MLS Elite.” This integration further presents long needed flexibility in two key areas; (1) permission for all players to participate in High School Soccer and, (2) revising the substitution rules to encourage clubs to better utilize their player pools, especially when showcasing their players to college coaches

Mission

The Elite Academy League has a mission to maintain the standards that exist inside the “MLS Elite” league, bridging the gap and developing the player pool in the most effective manner to promote advancement of qualified players.

Vision

Our vision is to advance the player pool who have shown and developed the skills necessary to progress to the highest level of play. This league provides and fosters a vertical integration approach, leading to direct access and movement into the next level of play, with the “MLS Elite” clubs. This league will serve to provide a seamless pathway of development for all top players who are motivated to establish themselves at the elite level, for competitive youth soccer, the collegiate environment, and beyond.