Kampala Kids League is a programme in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

that offers opportunities for children from different social, economic and religious backgrounds to mix and play together.

History

Kampala Kids League (KKL) was founded by Trevor Dudley (a British resident of Kampala) in 1998 to help boys and girls aged 4–14 in the capital city of Uganda to improve their lives through sport. Schools in the city were coming under pressure at that time to improve academic results and sports were being excluded. New schools were also being built without playing fields. Children in Uganda therefore needed the opportunity to play team sports. Since then over 16,000 boys and girls from over 160 different Schools, Orphanages and Street Children's organisations have successfully completed over 50 different seasons of Football, Basketball, Baseball and Mini Cricket activity. Over 2,000 adult volunteers have been trained as coaches and administrators and over 150 different local corporate sponsors have supported the leagues. In 2003 Trevor Dudley was awarded a fellowship from

Ashoka Foundation Ashoka (formerly branded Ashoka: Innovators for the Public) is an American-based nonprofit organization that promotes social entrepreneurship by connecting and supporting individual social entrepreneurs. Their stated mission is "the creation of a ...

for creating significant social change in

. He was awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours of 2008 for services to children's sport and health education in Uganda. Between 2001-2009 KKL prepared a youth soccer squad to travel to Europe and this popular team have won 21 International soccer tournaments, including becoming 6 times Gothia Cup World Youth Cup champions,

Norway Cup The Norway Cup is an international youth football tournament in Oslo, Norway. It has been held annually since 1972, with the exception of 1976 (due to a conflicting arrangement), 2020 and 2021 (due to the COVID-19 Pandemic). It is the world's l ...

winners, 8 time Tivoli Cup winners, 3 times winners of Football Festival Denmark, and lifting Haarlem Cup Holland, Pitea Summer Games and Storsjocupen tournaments in Sweden. This league is now one of the most successful of its kind in Africa. Talented young Ugandans from KKL are now represented in the ranks of the Ugandan Cranes National Football Team and some are being offered places in Academies in Europe. Dorian Viktor Klonaridis has recently joined Lille FC. In 2005 the KKL Mini Cricket programme was awarded the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

's (ICC) Best Junior Cricket Initiative Award in Africa. KKL relies on corporate funding to support its innovative social sports programmes and is always looking to attract new supporters to expand activities. Following the success of KKL, The Kids League (Uganda) (TKL) was set up in 2004 as a non profit to help boys and girls aged 8–15 at grassroots level throughout Uganda improve their lives using sport. In 2010 Trevor officially retired and his son, Mark Dudley took over the organisation.

Royal visit

In November 2007, KKL was honoured with a visit by the Prince of Wales during the CHOGM conference taking place that year in Uganda{{Cite web , title=How KKL transformed Ugandan football , url=https://www.newvision.co.ug/news/1518522/kkl-transformed-ugandan-football , access-date=2024-08-11 , website=New Vision , language=en. It was the first visit of the Prince of Wales to Uganda.

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

visited the offices of KKL and met all the staff and 20 boys and girls representing programmes that KKL and TKL had established. Prince Charles lifted one of the Gothia Cup trophies and took penalties against one of the boys much to the delight of the waiting photographers. The Prince of Wales unveiled a plaque on the KKL office block to commemorate the visit.

External links

* http://www.kampalakidsleague.org/ KKL website Football in Uganda 1998 establishments in Uganda Sport in Kampala