Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite was born 22 April 1982
commonly known as Kaká, is a Brazilian football attacking midfielder
who currently plays for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid
and the Brazilian national team. Kaká started his footballing career at
the age of eight, when he began playing for a local club. At the time, he also
played tennis, and it was not until he moved on to São Paulo FC and
signed his first professional contract with the club at the age of fifteen that
he chose to focus on football. Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite was born
in Brasília to Bosco Izecson Pereira Leite and Simone dos Santos (an
elementary school teacher). He had a financially secure upbringing that allowed
him to focus on both school and football at the same time. His younger
brother Rodrigo and cousin Eduardo Delani are also professional
footballers.
In 2003 he joined Milan for a fee of
€8.5 million. While at Milan, Kaká won the Ballon d’Or
and FIFA World Player of the Year awards in 2007. After his
success with Milan, Kaká joined Real Madrid for a world record fee
of £56 million, smashing the previous record of Zidane,
£49 million. Kaká’s record was later broken by Cristiano Ronaldo when
he joined Real Madrid for a fee of £80 million. In addition to his
contributions on the pitch, Kaká is known for his humanitarian work. In 2004,
by the time of his appointment, he became the youngest ambassador of the
UN World Food Programme.
When he was seven, Kaká’s family moved to São Paulo.
His school had arranged him in a local youth club
called ”Alphaville,” who qualified to the final in a local
tournament. There he was discovered by hometown club São Paulo FC,
who offered an assignment. At the age of 18, Kaká suffered a
career-threatening and possibly paralysis-inducing spinal fracture as a result
of a swimming pool accident, but remarkably made a full recovery. He
attributes his recovery to God and has since tithed his income to
his church.
He scored 10 goals in 22 matches the following season, and
by this time his performance was soon attracting attention from European clubs.
Kaká made a total of 58 appearances for São Paulo, scoring 23 times. Kaká began
his career with São Paulo at the age of eight. He signed a contract at fifteen
and led the São Paulo youth squad to Copa de Juvenil glory. He made
his senior side debut on 1 Feb 2001 and scored 12 goals in 27 appearances, in
addition to leading São Paulo to its first and only Torneio Rio-São
Paulo championship, in which he scored two goals in two minutes as a
substitute against Botafogo in the final, which São Paulo won 2–1.
The steady European interest in Kaká culminated in his
signing with Italian club AC Milan in 2003 for a fee of €8.5 million,
described in retrospect as ”peanuts” by club owner Silvio
Berlusconi. Within a month, he cracked the starting lineup, and his Serie
A debut was in a 2–0 win over Ancona. He scored 10 goals in 30
appearances that season, as Milan won the Scudetto and the UEFA
Super Cup.
2005–06 saw Kaká score his first hat-tricks in
domestic competition. On 9 April 2006, he scored his
first Rossonerihat-trick against Chievo; all three goals were scored
in the second half. The following season, he scored his first Champions League
hat-trick in a 4–1 group stage win over the Belgian side Anderlecht. Kaká
was a part of the five-man midfield in the 2004–05 season, usually
playing in a withdrawn role behind strikerAndriy Shevchenko. He scored seven goals
in 36 domestic appearances as Milan finished runner-up in
the Scudettorace. Despite Milan losing the 2004–05 Champions League
final to Liverpool on penalties, Kaká was still voted the best
midfielder of the tournament.
Andriy Shevchenko’s departure to Chelsea for
the 2006–07 season allowed Kaká to become the focal point of Milan’s
offense as he alternated between the midfield and striker positions. He
finished as the top scorer in the 2006–07 Champions League campaign
with ten goals. One of them helped the Rossoneri eliminate Celtic
in the quarter-finals on a 1–0 aggregate, and three others proved fatal
for Manchester United in the semi-finals, despite Milan losing the
first leg. Kaká added the Champions League title to his trophy case for the first
time when Milan defeated Liverpool on 23 May 2007. Though he went scoreless, he
won a free kick that led to the first of Filippo Inzaghi’s two goals, and
provided the assist for the second. For his stellar play throughout the
competition, he was voted the Vodafone Fans’ Player of the Season in
a poll of over 100,000 UEFA.com visitors. On 30 August, Kaká was
named by UEFA as both the top forward of the 2006–07 Champions
League season and UEFA Club Footballer of the Year.
Due to his contributions on and off the pitch, Time
magazine named Kaká in the Time 100, a list of the world’s 100 most
influential people, on 2 May. On 14 October, he cast his footprints into
the Estádio do Maracanã’s sidewalk of fame, in a section dedicated to the
memory of the country’s top players. He won the honor again in 2009. He
played his 200th career match with Milan in a 1–1 home draw
with Catania on 30 September, and on 5 October, he was named the
2006–07 FIF Pro World Player of the Year. On 2 December 2007, Kaká
became the eighth Milan player to win the Ballon d’Or, as he finished with
a decisive 444 votes, long ahead of runner-up Cristiano Ronaldo. He signed
a contract extension through 2013 with Milan on 29 February 2008.
BBC reported on 13 January 2009 that Manchester City made a bid
for Kaká for over £100 million. Milan director Umberto Gandini replied
that Milan would only discuss the matter if Kaká and Manchester City agreed to
personal terms. Kaká initially responded by telling reporters he wanted
to ”grow old” at Milan and dreamed of captaining the club one day,
but later said, ”If Milan want to sell me, I’ll sit down and talk. I can
say that as long as the club don’t want to sell me, I’ll definitely
stay.” On 19 January, Silvio Berlusconi announced that
Manchester City had officially ended their bid after a discussion between the
clubs, and that Kaká would remain with Milan. Milan supporters had
protested outside the club headquarters earlier that evening, and later chanted
outside Kaká’s home, where he saluted them by flashing his jersey outside a
window.
On 3 June 2009, Football Italia reported that
newly-elected Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez had
offered Milan a €68.5 million deal for Kaká, two days after the
player had left for international duty with Brazil. Milan vice president Adriano
Galliani did not deny the reports, and confirmed that he and Kaká’s
father, Bosco Leite, had traveled to Mexico to meet with La
Volpe. ”We had lunch and spoke about Kaká. I don’t deny it. Negotiations
exist, but a deal has yet to be done.” On 4 June, Galliani told Gazzetta
dello Sport that financial reasons were his motive for the talks
with La Volpe. ”We cannot allow [Milan] to lose €70 million
[...] The reasons behind Kaká’s departure would be economic.” On 8 June,
Milan and Real Madrid confirmed Kaká has moved to the Bernabéu on a
six-year deal. Kaká made his unofficial debut on 7 August 2009, in a 5–1
friendly victory against Toronto FC. He scored his first goal for
Madrid during a pre-season match on 19 August 2009, in a 5–0 victory against Borussia
Dortmund. Kaká later made his league debut on 29 August 2009 in a 3–2 win
against Deportivo La Coruña. He scored his first goal, a penalty
kick, on 23 September, in a 2–0 against Villarreal. On 5 August 2010,
Real Madrid announced that Kaká had undergone a successful surgery on a
long-standing left knee injury and would face up to four months on the
sidelines. Kaká returned to training after a long lay-off and manager Jose
Mourinho said that having Kaká back was like a new signing.
Kaká married his childhood sweetheart Caroline Celico on 23
December 2005 at a Rebirth in Christ church in São Paulo. Their first
child, Luca Celico Leite, was born in São Paulo on 10 June 2008. On 8
December 2010, Kaká announced Celico was pregnant with their second child, a
daughter. She was born late at night on 23 April 2011 and named
Isabella.Kaká was sworn in as an Italian citizen on 12 February 2007. He
features prominently in Adidas advertising and also has a modeling
contract with Armani, the latter preventing him from appearing in a photo
collection alongside his Milan teammates that was published by Dolce &
Gabbana in early 2007.Raí, the former Brazilian and São
Paulo FC captain, has always been the footballing role model of Kaká.
Kaká’s best friend is fellow Brazilian Marcelo Saragosa who
plays as a midfielder for the team FC Absheron in Azerbaijan. They
both served as best man at each other’s wedding.
Kaká is a follower of the evangelical Rebirth in Christ
Church and devout evangelical Christian. Kaká became engrossed
in religion at the age of 12: ”I learnt that it is faith that decides
whether something will happen or not.” He removed his jersey to reveal
an ”I Belong to Jesus” t-shirt and openly engaged in prayer moments
after the final whistle of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup, and Milan’s 2004 Scudetto
and 2007 Champions League triumphs. He also had the same phrase, along
with ”God Is Faithful,” stitched onto the tongues of his
boots. During the postmatch celebration following Brazil’s 4–1 win
over Argentina in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup final,
he and several of his teammates wore t-shirts that read ”Jesus Loves
You” in various languages. While receiving the FIFA World Footballer of
the year in 2007 he said when he was young he just wanted to be a professional
player for SaoPaolo and play one game for the Brazil national Team but the God
gave him more than he ever asked for”
On August 2010, EA Sports announceed that Kaká
has been chosen for the cover of FIFA 11. Though sharing a common goal,
Kaká is not currently a formal member of the organization Atletas de
Cristo (“Athletes of Christ”). In goal celebrations he usually points to
the sky as a gesture of thanks to God. Kaká’s favourite music
is gospel, and his favourite book is the Bible. Since November
2004, he has served as an Ambassador Against Hunger for the UN’ World Food
Programme, the youngest to do so at the time of his appointment. Kaká has a
musical side to himself as he performed a song with his wife, Caroline, on her
debut album. The song, entitled Presente de Deus, was written by Kaká himself
for his wife and was resonated in the church during their wedding in 2005.
His nickname is pronounced as it is spelled, with stress on the second
syllable and is a common term of endearment of “Ricardo” in
Brazil. In Kaká’s case, it was created by his younger brother Digão
calling him ”Caca” due to his inability to pronounce “Ricardo”
when they were young; it eventually evolved into Kaká.
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