Kenya's Aldrine Kibet during the Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) at the June 30 Stadium in Cairo on May 7, 2025.
In Tim Marshall’s The Power of Geography, the British author introduces the chapter about Spain by describing one of the many joys of driving along the small, dusty, and winding roads that snake the Iberian nation’s mountains.
He depicts one such pleasant experience as coming out of a corner and finding yourself heading towards a huge fortress sitting majestically atop a seemingly unassailable mass of rock.
That drive can easily apply to Aldrine Kibet’s incredible two-year journey from Nastic Sports Academy, located in Tarragona in northeastern Spain, to RC Celta Fortuna, a football team based in Vigo in northwestern Spain.
Tarragona to Vigo is a coast-to-coast move that puts the 19-year-old Kibet, the breakout star of the 2023 KSSSA School Games with St. Anthony’s Boys Kitale, on the brink of La Liga stardom.
La Liga, also known as the Primera Division, is Spain’s top tier football league. It is, to marry into the opening paragraph, the fortress that caps the Spanish football league pyramid. Beneath it is the Segunda Division.
Both leagues are administered by La Liga, a sports association with independent legal status from the Royal Spanish Football Federation (Rfef), the body that governs football in Spain.
RC Celta Fortuna plays in the league beneath the Segunda Division. That tier of the Spanish football league system is known as the Primera Federacion, and it is administered by the Rfef. The Rfef also administers the two tiers beneath the Primera Federacion – the Segunda Federacion (fourth tier) and the Tercera Federacion (fifth tier). The leagues below the Tercera Federacion are administered by the Rfef’s 19 regional federations.
The Primera Federacion is a relatively new league. It was formed in 2022 to replace the old third division league known as Segunda Division B which was a chaotic amateur league that comprised 80 teams divided into four groups. As Primera Federacion, the competition is now run as a professional league consisting of 40 clubs split into two groups. RC Celta Fortuna competes in Group 1 which features teams based in northern and central Spain.
At RC Celta Fortuna, Kibet will play at the club’s 4,500-capacity stadium, the Municipal de Barreiro. He will also earn, at the very least, the minimum salary set by the league.
His salary will most likely be paid in 14 instalments of 1, 286 euros Sh193 000) as is the practice among La Liga and Segunda Division teams, where players get paid twice in June and November.
Being two tiers below La Liga, the Primera Federacion may seem like the unassailable mass of rock that deters ascension to the huge fortress sitting majestically atop a Spanish mountain. However, for Kibet, playing for RC Celta Fortuna, the club is easily a stepping stone to the big time. The Primera Federacion features eight reserve teams of La Liga clubs, and RC Celta Fortuna is one of them.
Celta Vigo first team squad
RC Celta Fortuna is the reserve team of La Liga side Celta Vigo, and their league group also contains the B teams of three other top-tier clubs – Athletic Bilbao, Osasuna, and Real Madrid. RC Celta Fortuna have competed in the third tier of Spanish football in the last 12 seasons and have finished in the top 10 of their league group in the last five seasons.
As Celta Vigo’s reserve team, the club also plays some of its matches at the senior team’s 24,000-capacity stadium, Estadio Balaidos.
The team was known as Celta de Vigo B until 2023, when it changed to its current name in honour of Celta Vigo’s predecessor club, Real Fortuna FC.
As an RC Celta Fortuna player, Kibet can be called up to the senior team if his performances in the Primera Federacion impress Celta Vigo’s head coach, Claudio Giraldez.
However, his appearances for Celta Vigo will only be possible if the club has registered him as one of their non-European Union players. La Liga clubs are only allowed to register a maximum of five non-EU players in their first team squad, which must not have more than 25 players. Out of the five non-EU players, only three can be included in a matchday squad.
Currently, the Celta Vigo first team squad has seven foreign players – an Argentine, a Ghanaian, a Guinean, a Serbian, a Romanian, and two Swedes. The Argentine player, Franco Cervi, has an Italian passport, while the Guinean, Ilaix Moriba, is also a Spanish citizen.
The duo along with the Romanian and Swedish players therefore count as players from EU countries as does the Serbian Mihailo Ristic. Despite Serbia not being in the EU, Serbian footballers are considered EU-eligible players in La Liga.
As such, the Ghanaian Joseph Aidoo is currently Celta Vigo’s only non-EU player, meaning that the club has space for four more non-EU players.
This limit on non-EU players usually sees LaLiga clubs using loopholes in the rules when signing non-EU players. For instance, Real Madrid registered Jude Bellingham using an Irish passport so that he counts as one of their EU players since England, Bellingham’s country of origin, are not members of the EU.
Bellingham became an Irish citizen through his paternal grandmother.
La Liga clubs also show a great preference for signing players from non-EU countries who can qualify for Spanish citizenship after two years of residence. These nations include Latin American countries, Andora, Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines, and Portugal. For context, Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr became a Spanish citizen in 2022, four years after joining the club.
In the Primera Federacion, the rules on signing non-EU players are less stringent. In that division, clubs can sign a maximum of six non-EU players, of whom four can be included in a matchday squad. The current RC Celta Fortuna squad has only one other non-EU player, the Moroccan Jones El-Abdellaoui, who was born in Norway, an EU country. Norway allows dual citizenship; hence, RC Celta Fortuna and Celta Vigo can also count him as one of their EU players.
Kenya's Aldrine Kibet during their training session on May 6, 2025.
As a Kenyan, Kibet does not qualify for Spanish citizenship until 2033 when he will have completed 10 years of residence in the European nation, if he stays that long.
As such, keeping in mind the rules guiding the signing of non-EU players in La Liga, his pathway to Spain’s top league will rely heavily on his determination and hard work. He will have to prove himself worthy of taking one of Celta Vigo’s slots for non-EU players.
By registering him with their reserve team, it can be argued that Celta Vigo appreciates Kibet’s talent and would like to monitor his progress before promoting him to the first team.
If that promotion to the first team comes with him signing a contract with Celta Vigo, then Kibet’s annual salary will shoot to at least 182,000 euros (Sh27 million).
For now, the view of the fortress from his stepping stone on the Spanish mountains with the small, dusty, and winding road behind him will do.
