⚽️0️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ Frédéric Lipka

Meet Frédéric Lipka, a soccer tactician who is helping Major League Soccer reengineer its youth development.

Born May 16, 1969 in Rombas Metz, Lipka grew up in eastern France where soccer was king. His father played the game, as did his brother and the neighborhood kids. Once Lipka began to play as a young kid, he immediately fell in love with the game and later joined local club FC Rombas. “It was something natural,” he said of his proclivity for the game, and as he passed from childhood to his teenage years, he pursued his passion as a player.

(Photo left: Frédéric Lipka. Photo credit: MLS.)

Frédéric’s Story

From 1989 through 2000, Lipka played for various French clubs, including a season with AS Saint Denis on Réunion (the same island in the Indian Ocean where Les Bleus Dimitri Payet grew up). He then translated his on-pitch know-how into a career training the next generation of players. Following tenures as coach and sporting director at Racing Club de France (Paris) from 2000 until 2008, and director of the youth academy of Le Havre Athletic Club from 2008 to 2011, Lipka embarked upon his American experience in 2012.

“I was completely new to America,” he recalled of the first time he set foot on U.S. soil as a 42-year-old. That year, he traveled to Denver for the French coaches’ union, Union Nationale des Entraîneurs et Cadres Techniques Professionnels du Football (UNECATEF), to observe Rush Soccer Colorado.

As a result of that preliminary trip, Lipka found himself gravitating into the orbit of the United States’ top professional league, Major League Soccer (MLS). He began working as a consultant for MLS in 2013, then officially joined the league in 2015, putting his expertise in youth development to use. Lipka first focused on developing a partnership between MLS and the French Football Federation to train MLS youth academy coaches.

“What guided us was France, but also the best practices of the best clubs in Europe,” he said while pointing to influences from Mexico, Argentina, and elsewhere. “A lot of it is how to evaluate your context, your environment, and how to apply potential recipes,” Lipka noted. “What we experienced, what we implemented in France, or what I saw in Europe, we adjusted to the United States.”

The Sports Diplomacy Connection

*Frédéric Lipka at the 2022 Generation Adidas Cup in April. Photo: MLS.*

In his work with MLS, Lipka is a sports diplomat as he naturally engages in informal sports diplomacy every day, translating French culture and its footballing lessons to a U.S. audience.

“I try to promote the culture of my country by respecting what I’m doing [in the United States], while developing the American soccer culture, too,” he reflected. “I see myself as a silent diplomat.”

One of the questions he fields most frequently is: how did Les Bleus become so successful in developing young players and winning in elite-level tournaments? He explains about the country’s youth academy system, not just how it produces elite players, but why the French system came to focus on youth development.

“They ask a lot of questions about diversity in soccer, too,” he noted. It’s yet another opportunity for him to explain about the French development system, but also about the country today. “We know that France has diversity when it comes to which kids and people play soccer.”

Often he consults about gastronomy. “Food, wine, that’s part of our culture, so people are always curious,” Lipka reflected. And he also provides travel advice for those who ask where in France they should visit. Paris, the Southwest (including Biarritz), Corsica, and Normandy are among his top suggestions. “I think it’s something that every American in France should do,” he said of seeing the D-Day landing beaches used in the June 1944 Allied push to liberate German-occupied France. “It’s an emotional shock, it’s full of emotion.”

Often overlooked is how one can travel and experience French culture through soccer–especially the rivalry between Paris and Marseille. “It’s a bit north versus south,” he explained. “But in France, it’s almost everyone against Paris, for it’s very common to support the underdog.”

Lipka gains much from his informal people-to-people culture, technical, or knowledge exchanges with U.S. colleagues. “I think what I have learned is the capacity to work as a team, to work together to form and deliver a plan. There are few countries that are able to have a collective objective and to say, ‘OK, now we are going to follow our leaders and execute the plan.’”

The Vice President & Technical Director of Player Development at Major League Soccer is also bullish on U.S. soccer. “The talent exists, even if the talent is expressed differently,” Lipka said.

“Sport has a place in U.S. society, which is amazing. Practicing sports opens a lot of options for kids, but also instills a lot of values, like respecting the leader, respecting the hierarchy, and teamwork. I think it’s an asset for people in North America.”

Mapping the Connection