The Planets have gone through the lower tiers of the Kenyan football league system and are now one division below the Premier League. The team started in the Nationwide League's Second Division in 2006 before gaining promotion to the First Division in 2007, where they remained until 2013 (the league has since been changed to FKF Division One). During that season, the team finished the season in fourth place, gaining promotion to the newly formed National Super League.
The team was back on 13 January for pre-season practice, assembling on the grounds for the opening of its annual training camp Monday morning.[1] Last season, the team put together a 12-5-5 record, highlighted by a five match winning streak in November including wins over K.R.A., Mahakama and Bidco United to sprint from sixth to fourth and qualify for Super League football.
The team welcomes back ten starters from last season's side, including the team's leaders in goals (, 12), assists (, 18), most appearances (, 47) as well as minutes played (, 3,060).
Central defender was sold to newly promoted Premier League side Top Fry AllStars, while and will feature for Provincial League side on waiver and loan respectively. Five-year veteran Machio was selected as team captain and will serve in that capacity throughout the 2014 season. Striker is back on the roster after going on loan to during the 2013 season. Right back , the longest serving member of the academy, returns to the active roster after sitting out most of the 2013 season due to personal matters.
Ten transfers joined Ligi Ndogo for this season. Among them was centre back , a replacement for Weyula, two other defenders, three midfielders, two strikers and former Planets keeper, , who is back after one year at Premier League side Muhoroni Youth.[2]
In keeping with tradition, six players were promoted from the lower Ligi Ndogo teams. Right back (23) and goalkeeper (20) were promoted from the foundation team, while midfielders (17), (17) and (16) were promoted from the under-17 side that has featured in the Keele International Cup in England over the past five years. A major part of the Planets' title quest this season will depend on the consistency of their back four, a constantly improving unit that conceded only 7 goals in the second half of the season compared to 15 in the first leg.
The team will play its home games at its Ngong Road centre,[3] where it played its last five matches in the 2013 season with a record of 4-1.
February[]
The team added one more player from the youth system, Christian Lubulu (19), and dropped two more ( and ) before the final team hand-over deadline. 2012 top scorer returned to the roster and was joined by and , who is on loan from Posta Rangers. also returned to the squad, while goalkeeper was released to Nairobi Stima.
Ligi Ndogo had its first friendly game against the Academy side and lost 2-1 before bouncing back to beat Iron Strikers 4-0. In a subsequent rematch, it beat the Academy team 1-0. The team played three more pre-season friendlies in anticipation of the start of the National Super League. However, the kick-off was postponed by a week due to a series of new rules that teams had to comply with.[4][5]
March[]
On 15 March, the Planets won their first match of the 2014 National Super League and went top of the league in the first week of action. 's hat trick pushed his goal tally to eight in seven matches. On 23 March the Planets went down 3-0 to Posta Rangers, their first league defeat by two goals or more since 14 October 2012 (losing 2-0 to Bandari). Goalkeeper Charles Ouma aggravated a knee injury and was ruled out for six weeks.
The Planets held Kariobangi Sharks to a 1-1 draw with a late penalty on 29 March for 4 points in their slowest start after three matches (9 points in 2011 and 7 points in 2012). The match was German tactician Oliver Page's first since taking over the senior team. He had previously joined the Academy as a technical advisor,[6] and he now becomes the Sports Director.
Updated to match(es) played on 2 November 2014. Source: Kenyan National Super League Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
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