Brisbane school scores soccer coup with Liverpool FC partnership

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Inner-Brisbane private school St James College has partnered with English Premier League football giant Liverpool FC to launch a specialised training program for students, with access to expert coaching from the club’s global academy.

The ongoing program between the co-educational Spring Hill school and the Liverpool FC International Academy marks the club’s second school partnership in Queensland, and the third Premier League collaboration in Brisbane.

St James College principal Andree Rice said there was a growing appetite among independent and Catholic schools to form international sports partnerships.

St James College has partnered with Liverpool FC to provide a specialist training program for students in years 5 to 12.

“I love the fact that Liverpool’s ambition, commitment, dignity and unity sync really well with what we’re on about as a school,” Rice said.

“Both Liverpool and St James are essentially about lifting young people up, giving them opportunity, developing character, developing teamwork, and opening up the future.”

The training program will first be adopted by the school’s soccer teams. It will then be added as an optional component of the health and physical education curriculum for students in years 5 and 6 in 2026, before expanding to other year levels.

The soccer program will be an option for year 5 and 6 students in 2026.

The head of the Australian division of Liverpool’s academy, Rob Davey, said the partnership was the club’s “first foray into Brisbane”.

“The club’s vision of the academy is to be the world leader in the development of young people through football,” Davey said.

He said the academy would train St James College teachers to adopt “the Liverpool way”, but other programs would be on offer for students and the school community.

“We also have the opportunity to run extracurricular programs, both after school and in the school holidays, which is a combination of both teachers and our own external coaches supplementing the teaching resources,” Davey said.

Liverpool FC International Academy Australia general manager Rob Davey and St James College principal Andree Rice announce the new soccer program on Tuesday.

“First and foremost, it’s a program designed to support the school with their values of investing into young people to make them better citizens within our communities. Football is the vehicle for that, and we happen to be backed by one of the world’s leading sporting brands in Liverpool Football Club.”

Davey said the “cream of the crop” students could later play professionally in Australia, but Rice said the benefits would extend beyond just soccer.

“Some [students] are going to end up being amazing football players, but others will be able to use those skills in a whole array of sports,” she said.

“We believe this Liverpool way of training will actually hugely help their skills flourish.”

St James College is the second Queensland school to partner with Liverpool FC’s training academy after Ignatius Park College in Townsville, and one of 22 across the country.

St Joseph’s Nudgee College also has a Premier League partnership with Tottenham Hotspur, with the next two seasons locked in, and St Laurence’s College opened a soccer program from Manchester City FC in 2022.

State schools with specialist soccer programs compete in the Queensland Schools Premier League, and A-League teams partner with select schools offering elite sporting programs.

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