Club History

Anglers Football Club was founded in November 2021 to build resilient kids through fun, rigorous soccer programs accessible to any family, but the Club can trace it’s origin and philosophy back through the legacies of two other clubs.

Victory FC2, founded in 2010, provided a remnant of three teams from which Anglers was launched in 2021.

Woodland Park FC, founded in 2014, would be grafted into Anglers in 2023.

Over the years, the Club has reinvented itself multiple times, and we are constantly pushing towards continued evolution, but we also endeavor to remember our roots, borrowing from the cultures of the clubs that preceded us and learning from both their successes and missteps.  For more on their stories, read on!

Victory For Christ Football Club (VFC2) was founded when a father and son, frustrated by the time commitment and financial cost of the typical club soccer experience, had a desire to play soccer on their own terms.  This desire sparked an idea: to form a team outside the Colorado Soccer Association (CSA) and play friendly matches against local opponents.  This simple idea of a soccer club independent from the CSA was not new in larger cities like Denver, but it was a unique arrangement in the Pikes Peak region.

So, in the fall of 2010, Patrick Malfitano and his son Spencer launched a single team, The Anglers, but it was not without challenges or opposition.  Teammates and friends within the local soccer community said this idea would never work…  Even more challenging, a director of another prominent club looked to discredit the validity of The Anglers.  But, through it all, the Malfitanos pressed on and fielded a team of Spencer and his friends, a total of seventeen elementary-aged boys.

Over the years, their team became a small club through nothing but word-of-mouth marketing and adopted the name Victory FC2.  Under the Malfitanos’ leadership, VFC2 competed for twenty-one seasons over eleven years.  A true feat for an idea that would never work…

In addition to making local soccer more accessible to families in Colorado Springs, Patrick saw an opportunity for VFC2 to be a tool to help kids think globally.  He realized this vision when taking a group of athletes on a Christian mission trip to Germany.

In late 2021, Patrick was faced with a pivotal moment in the life of his family.  With his youngest daughter graduating from high school, he was ready to step away from soccer, planning to dissolve VFC2 in the process.  Seeing a unique opportunity to continue the legacy Patrick had built, Brendan Campagna and Jason Rollins, a father of multiple VFC2 athletes, founded Anglers Football Club (a name meant to honor Spencer’s original team).  With a remnant of three teams and a handful of coaches, Anglers was launched.

The legacy of Victory For Christ Football Club cannot only be measured in the development and expansion of Anglers in Colorado Springs, but also by the lives impacted with the Gospel.  Anglers leadership remains committed to the Great Commission and continues a practice that began with VFC2 of offering soccer-related, Christian mission trip opportunities to coaches, athletes, and families.

Woodland Park Futbol Club (WPFC) started with a desire of local families for soccer opportunities at a higher level than the Parks & Rec program but not requiring a drive down to Colorado Springs multiple nights a week.  This desire would grow into a vision that has been transforming the face of soccer in the mountain community since 2014.

While searching for a more competitive soccer option for her son, Robyn Bowman met another parent conducting a similar search.  Robyn began gathering families with kids around the same age in the hopes of forming a team.  As word spread throughout the community, interest came flooding in, and two teams were formed for what would be the first season of WPFC.  Teams would train locally in Woodland Park, then, through relationships with a clubs in the Springs, would travel down the Ute Pass to compete in matches.  It was a successful balance of local teams and higher competition.  Over the years, WPFC steadily grew, launching teams in various age groups for both boys and girls, and eventually needing to adopt a waitlist full of hopeful families.

When Robyn moved away from the Woodland Park community in 2018, leadership was passed on to Marcie James, who had been a volunteer coach for her son’s team at the time.  Under Marcie’s leadership, WPFC placed a greater emphasis on building up the game in both Woodland Park and its neighboring mountain communities by becoming a recognized feeder program to the Woodland Park High School (WPHS) soccer programs.  But life continued on for Marcie as it had for Robyn, and in fall 2023, she was ready to move on after her own sons had aged-out of WPFC and she had transitioned into coaching the varsity girls soccer program at WPHS.  With no new leadership in place, the organization was on borrowed time and planning to dissolve.

WPFC had been playing friendlies against Anglers over several seasons, and when Marcie shared the details of their situation with Anglers leadership, the clubs began exploring options of a merger that could keep teams in Woodland Park playing.  Marcie, her coaches, and her board felt that Anglers’ refreshing take on providing the next level of soccer training and competition while staying grounded in the local community was an ideal fit to continue in the legacy of WPFC.  In November of 2023, Woodland Park Futbol Club was grafted into Anglers Football Club.

The legacy of Woodland Park Futbol Club is best seen in the growth and success of the WPHS boys and girls varsity soccer teams.  Both programs have experienced some of their most successful seasons ever, attributed in large part to the dedication of the families from WPFC.  Many coaches and athletes at WPHS can trace their roots through WPFC.  The boys varsity team hosted the school’s first ever home playoff game in 2023 and followed up that achievement by reaching the 3A State Semifinals in 2024.  What a testament to the coaches and families in this small mountain community who inspired an ongoing passion for the incredible game of soccer!

Media Coverage

January 2024