Ligi Ndogo Soccer Club (Ligi Ndogo is Swahili

Swahili language

Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

 for Small League), commonly referred to as Ligi Ndogo or simply Ligi, is a football academy based in Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

, Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

.

History

Ligi Ndogo was officially opened on February 2002 to aid aspiring players from the age of 4. Its main aim is to develop, nurture and expose children’s soccer skills at an early age. Its first centre was opened in the Jamhuri area along Ngong Road in Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

. The program was expanded to South B, Gigiri and Karen.

Age groups

• Atoms - 4-6 years
• Juniors - 7-10 years
• Mids:
  • Lower mids - 11-12 years
  • Upper mids - 13-14 years

Teams

Teams in Ligi Ndogo are named after the nine planets in the solar system

Solar System

The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...

, except for Venus

Venus

Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...

, Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

, Saturn

Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...

 and Uranus

Uranus

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus , the father of Cronus and grandfather of Zeus...

, and including the Sun

Sun

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...

 itself.

Team	Atoms	Juniors	Lower mids	Upper mids
Suns
Mercury
Mars
Jupiters
Neptunes
Plutos

Players who are seen as exemplary are also included in the Ligi Ndogo all-star teams called Planets, which participates in national, regional and international youth football tournaments, including the Keele Cup

Keele University

Keele University is a campus university near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as an experimental college dedicated to a broad curriculum and interdisciplinary study, Keele is most notable for pioneering the dual honours degree in Britain...

. These teams have various age groups in which players are put in depending on their age:

• Under-9 Planets
• Under-11 Planets
• Under-13 Planets

Players who are 15 years and above are not placed in any specific teams but are put together to train and play as one team in various national, regional and international tournaments. These teams are:

• Ligi Ndogo Under-15 F.C.
• Ligi Ndogo Under-16 F.C.
• Ligi Ndogo Under-19 F.C.
• Ligi Ndogo Under-23 F.C.
• Ligi Ndogo S.F.C.
  Ligi Ndogo S.F.C.
  Ligi Ndogo Senior Football Club, commonly referred to as Ligi Ndogo or simply Ligi, is a football club based in Nairobi, Kenya. It was formed after the first group of players to graduate from the Under-17 level in Ligi Ndogo wanted to continue pursuing their soccer interests.-Players:-External...
  
   - The senior team, where graduates of the Under-23 level and other exemplary players are placed.

Notable former players

• John Guidetti
  John Guidetti
  John Alberto Guidetti is a Swedish footballer, who currently plays for Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, on loan from Manchester City.-Brommapojkarna:...
  
  
• Ayub Timbe
• Eyael Teshager
• Chris Ogutu
• Dani Bakongolia
• Humphrey Mieno
• Paul Thiong'o
• Mahmoud Korane

External links

• Official Website
• Official Blog
• Ligi Ndogo on Facebook
  Facebook
  Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...