Franco Lipari (Business Administration, 2002) is the founder and owner of Soccer iQ, a performance and skills training centre in Laval. Since opening the business in November 2023, the response has been overwhelmingly positive leading Lipari to open three other locations in Brossard, Ville Saint-Laurent and Montreal’s east end.

A former Champlain soccer player, Lipari went on to coach for the Cavaliers and find ways to stay involved in sport. It was while coaching his daughter’s soccer team that Lipari came up with the idea for his business and the dream to provide a top notch training facility for players using the latest technology.

“I went to see this facility for a training with my daughter. I couldn’t believe this is all we have,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff available to hockey kids but not necessarily for soccer players. I said to myself, ‘there has to be a market here for a proper facility.’ The next day I put things in motion.”

Soccer iQ is a technical training centre that offers private and semi-private sessions for individuals or teams, specialized programs, and intensive training where athletes can work on ball manipulation, shooting accuracy or play 3 vs. 3 games.

“We have some technology that’s not available anywhere else in the Quebec market,” said Lipari.

The centre features a shooting wall with a light-activated panel and doesn’t cater to just high-level players.

“If you are a soccer player in the winter, you can come as an individual, play on the machines, join others, there’s a big community vibe.”

Lipari says the centre is also popular with day camps and birthday parties for younger kids who have a passion for the sport.

“It’s overwhelming and it’s exciting to see that the idea we came up with is growing,” he said.

Lipari is expanding his business rapidly to build on the momentum of the first location’s success and gain a foothold in the market across the Greater Montreal Area.

“We want to set ourselves apart as a business,” he said. “I wanted to shake up the soccer landscape in Quebec.”

Soccer iQ wasn’t Lipari’s first foray into starting a business. With a degree in marketing from Concordia University, he opened Brandy’s Canine Café with his wife in 2011 and co-ran the natural pet food store for eight years while also working as a marketing manager for Motovan, a company that sells motorcycles, ATVs, and snowmobiles.

“I always had an entrepreneurial spirit,” said Lipari. “I like to be always busy.”

Now focusing his energy on Soccer iQ, it’s something of a full circle moment for the former soccer player and coach. He says with the growth in popularity of soccer as a sport, the new Northern Super League and the World Cup coming to North America next year, there’s a clear demand for better training facilities.

“I’m not surprised that its growing and I’m happy to see it grow,” he said.

Lipari’s advice for current students and recent grads: “My biggest regret is not having done this earlier. Sometimes you fear starting something like this because of the risk involved. Take a risk, try, if you don’t find success, you have plenty of time to make up for it. I feel like people are often complacent, my thing is like, let’s take a risk.”