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Kaká

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Revision as of 23:37, 15 May 2007 by 208.120.187.176 (talk) (→Early life)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) This article is about the Brazilian footballer. For other uses of Kaka, please see kaka (disambiguation).
Kaká
Personal information
Full name Ricardo Izecson
dos Santos Leite
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Midfield Playmaker, Attacking Midfielder
Team information
Current team A.C. Milan
Number 22
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 March 2007

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (IPA: [xi'kaʁdu ˌizɛ'ksõ dusɐ̃tus lɛitʃi]; born April 22, 1982 in Brasília), better known as Kaká, is a Brazilian footballer midfielder for Brazil and A.C. Milan.

Early life

Kaká was born to Simone Cristina dos Santos Leite and Bosco Izecson Pereira Leite. He has a younger brother, Rodrigo (known as Digão), who has followed in Kaká's footsteps by playing football in Italy.

In September, 2000, at the age of 18, Kaká suffered a career-threatening and possibly paralysis-inducing spine fracture as a result of a swimming pool accident, but remarkably made a full recovery. The next year, Kaká made his comeback on the pitch, when he came in as a reserve-substitute in the Tornero Rio Final and scored two goals, among them the match-winner, in less than five minutes. He attributes his recovery to God and has since tithed his income to his church.

Club Career

In 2000, at the age of 17, while he was still in São Paulo FC's youth squad, the club was set to sell Kaká to Turkish 1st division side Gaziantepspor, who turned down the deal after refusing to pay a price of $1.5m for him. Kaká made his São Paulo debut in January 2001, scoring 12 goals in 27 appearances, and 10 goals in 22 appearances the next season. His performance was soon attracting attention from European clubs. AC Milan, fresh from winning the 2003 Champions League, brought him aboard in 2003 for $8.5 million, a fee described in hindsight as "peanuts" by club owner Silvio Berlusconi. Within a month, he cracked the starting lineup, and has remained there since. His Serie A debut was in a 2-0 Milan win at A.C. Ancona. He scored 10 goals in 30 appearances that season, as Milan won the Scudetto and the European Super Cup.

Kaká was an integral part of the five-man midfield in the 2004-05 season, usually playing in a withdrawn role behind striker Andriy Shevchenko. He scored 7 goals in 36 domestic appearances as Milan finished runner-up to Juventus. Despite Milan losing the 2004-05 Champions League final to Liverpool F.C on penalties, he was nonetheless voted the best midfielder of the tournament, and also finished ninth, with 19 votes, in the running for the 2005 Ballon D'Or.

The 2005-06 season saw Kaka score his first hat-tricks in domestic and European competition: On April 9, 2006, he scored his first Rossoneri hat-trick against Chievo Verona. All three goals were scored in the second half. Seven months later, he scored his first Champions League hat-trick in a 4-1 group stage win over RSC Anderlecht. The football world was beginning to take notice of a superstar in the making.

Former AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko's departure to Chelsea FC for the 2006-07 season allowed Kaká to become the focal point of Milan's offense. As of May 2, 2007, he is currently the top scorer in the 2006-07 UEFA Champions League with ten goals, which have proved a huge catalyst in steering Milan back to the CL final. One of them helped Milan squeak by Celtic FC 1-0 after extra time in the quarterfinals on a 1-0 aggregate, and three others proved fatal for Manchester United in the semifinals despite Milan losing the first leg. Following the convincing 3-0 second-leg defeat at the San Siro on May 2 that knocked out the English champions, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson proclaimed Kaká as one of the two best players in the world, alongside his charge Cristiano Ronaldo. The previous month, a panel of experts set up by Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport proclaimed Kaká as the world's best footballer. Shevchenko also included his endorsement, while suggesting that Kaká deserved to win the Ballon d'Or.

National Team

Kaká made his Seleção debut in January 2002 against Bolivia. He was part of the 2002 FIFA World Cup-winning squad, but played only 19 minutes, all of which were in the first round match against Costa Rica. During the final against Germany, coach Luis Felipe Scolari was reportedly about to send Kaka on as a substitute, but he never made it into the game as the referee didn't notice him waving on the sidelines to enter the pitch.

In 2003, Kaká was the captain for the Gold Cup tournament, where Brazil finished as runner-up, as did Kaka with a second-best three goals. He was also named as one of the competition's top eleven players by position. On June 29, 2005, he scored in a 4-1 defeat of Argentina in the 2005 Confederations Cup final, hitting a rocket into the upper right-hand corner of the net. He finished in joint tenth place in the voting for the 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year award, and finished two spots higher the following year.

Kaká started in his first FIFA World Cup Finals in 2006, scoring his first and only goal in a 1-0 victory over Croatia in Brazil's opening match. Unfortunately, he was unable to keep up his momentum for the remainder of the tournament as Brazil were ingloriously eliminated by France in the quarterfinals. Despite his mediocre World Cup form, he maintained his starting position among new Brazil coach Dunga's new squad of younger talent for Brazil's post-WC friendly matches. On September 3, 2006, he scored one of his most brilliant goals for Brazil, receiving the ball off a deflection from an Argentina corner kick and taking the ball down three quarters of the field to score.

On May 12, 2007, citing an exhaustive schedule of Serie A, Champions League and national team play, Kaka openly bowed out of the upcoming 2007 Copa América. "I haven't had a break for three seasons. I won't have the form to achieve what is expected of me at an international level." Dunga took the optimistic route, declaring that while he was disappointed about Kaká's decision, his absence would subsequently free up a roster spot for a lesser-used player.

Personal life and religion

In 2005, two days before Christmas, Kaká married 18-year-old Caroline Celico at the Reborn in Christ Church in São Paulo. She was born on July 26, 1987 to Rosangela Lyra, the director of Dior in Brazil, and entrepreneur Celso Celico. She and Kaká met in 2001 while she was a student and he was playing for São Paulo FC. The wedding drew 600 guests, including fellow Brazilian footballers Cafu, Ronaldo, Adriano, Dida, Júlio Baptista, and then-Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. Caroline is currently attending university in Milan, where she plans to earn a business degree.

A devout evangelical Christian, Kaká wore an "I Belong to Jesus" T-shirt during Milan's Scudetto celebration in 2004 and after Brazil's defeat of Germany in the 2002 WC final, and had the same phrase, along with "God Is Faithful," stitched onto the tongues of his boots. During the postmatch celebration after Brazil's 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup victory, he and several of his teammates, among them backup keeper Gomes and defender Lúcio, wore T-shirts with "Jesus Loves You" printed on them in various languages.

Kaká is a member of the organization Atletas de Cristo ("Athletes of Christ"). His goal celebration consists of him pointing to the sky as a sign of thanks to God after every score, and is proud that he was a virgin when he married. His favorite music is gospel, and his favorite book is the Bible.

Nickname

His nickname is pronounced as it is spelled, with stress on the second syllable. It is a commonly-used term of endearment of "Ricardo" in Brazil. In Kaká's case, however, it was born from younger brother Rodrigo calling him "Caca" due to his inability to pronounce "Ricardo"; it eventually evolved into Kaká. He is often called "Ricky Kaka" by the European media.

Trivia

  • He has served as an Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations' World Food Programme since November 2004, the youngest to do so at the time of his appointment.
  • He turned down the chance to take over the #10 jersey for Milan following Rui Costa's departure in 2006, despite the clamoring of many Milan fans that he should wear it.
  • Kaká owns a PlayStation Portable; his favorite games include FIFA 07, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, and NBA 07.
  • He was once described by Pelé as having "Brazilian technique combined with European strength."
  • Kaká was sworn in as an Italian citizen on February 12, 2007. He is ineligible to play for Italy, though, having already played for Brazil.

Career statistics

Club Season Domestic
League 		Domestic
Cups 		International Toyota
Cup 		Total
App G App G App G App G App G
AC Milan 2006-07 29 8 1 0 13 9 - - 41 17
2005-06 35 14 2 0 12 5 - - 49 19
2004-05 36 7 2 0 13 2 - - 51 9
2003-04 30 10 4 0 13 4 1 0 48 14
Total 129 39 9 0 51 19 1 0 190 59
São Paulo FC 2003 9 2 0 0 - - 9 2
2002 22 9 0 0 - - 22 9
2001 27 12 0 0 - - 27 12
Total 58 23 0 0 0 0 - - 58 23
Career Totals 187 72 9 0 51 19 1 0 248 75

Honours

Club

Individual honours

Preceded byZlatan Ibrahimović Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year
2006 		Succeeded bycurrent holder
Preceded byDeco UEFA Club Football Award Best Midfielder
2004-05 		Succeeded byDeco
Preceded byPavel Nedvěd Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year
2004 		Succeeded byZlatan Ibrahimović

References

External links

AC Milan – current squad
Brazil squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup winners (5th title)
Brazil
Brazil squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup
Brazil
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