Misplaced Pages

Kaká

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Martin tamb (talk | contribs) at 17:51, 17 October 2006. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 17:51, 17 October 2006 by Martin tamb (talk | contribs)(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
Kaka
Personal information
Full name Ricardo Izecson
dos Santos Leite
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Attacking Midfielder
Team information
Current team A.C. Milan
Number 22
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of October 11, 2006

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (born April 22 1982 in Brasília), better known as Kaká, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Brazil and the Serie A club A.C. Milan.

Early life

Kaká was born in Brasília, Brazil on the 22nd of April, 1982 to Simone Cristina dos Santos Leite and Forest Izecson Pereira Leite. He has a younger brother, Rodrigo Ifrano dos Santos Leite, known as Digão, who has followed in Kaká's footsteps by playing football in Italy.

His nickname Kaká, from his native Portuguese, is pronounced as it is spelled, with the stress being on the second syllable as the accent signifies. It is a commonly used shortened form of "Ricardo" in Brazil , however, Kaká received his nickname from his little brother, Rodrigo, who could not pronounce the word "Ricardo" when they were young. Rodrigo called his older brother "Caca" which was later changed to "Kaká".

In September, 2000, at the age of 18, Kaká suffered a career-threatening and possibly paralysis-inducing spine fracture as a result of a pool accident. The worst did not occur, however, and Kaká fully recovered from the incident. He attributes his recovery to God and has since tithed his income to his church.

Club career

Kaká made his debut at São Paulo FC in 2001 when he was 18 years old. In the first season, he scored 12 goals in 27 appearances, and 10 goals in 22 appearances in the following season. The performance attracted attention from European clubs, and it was Milan who won the race to sign him. He joined AC Milan in 2003 for $8.5m, a fee described as "peanuts" by club owner Silvio Berlusconi. Within a month, he became a regular for the first team, the place he has secured ever since. His first appearance came in a match at Ancona, which Milan won 2-0. In all, he scored 10 goals in 30 appearances that season, winning the Italian Serie A Championship 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 league appearances, and also won the Italian Super Cup with the club. Milan finished second to Juventus in the Serie A, and lost the UEFA Champions League final to Liverpool on penalty kicks. He was, however, voted the best midfielder in the European tournament. He also ended up in the ninth place in the 2005 Golden Ball standing, earning 19 votes.

One of Kaká's more famous goals was the one against Fenerbahçe SK in the AC Milan's first game in the 2005-06 Champions League, won 3-1 by the Rossoneri. It had pundits draw instant comparisons to Diego Maradona, as Kakà started his run from the midfield and skipped past three tackles before entering the area and finishing with a low shot under Fenerbahçe goalkeeper Volkan Demirel.

On April 9, 2006, he scored his first Rossoneri hat-trick against Chievo Verona. All three goals were scored in the second half.

In 2006 Real Madrid showed an interest in signing the 24 year old star, but Milan refused to sell him and Kaká signed a contract extension until 2011. He said he never wanted to go to Real and was happy at Milan.

International career

File:Kaka2006WC.jpg
Kaká playing for Brazil.

Kaká made his international debut in January 2002 against Bolivia. He was a part of the national squad which won the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but did not see much action playing just 19 minutes of the first round match against Costa Rica. In 2003, he was the captain for the Gold Cup tournament in the US and Mexico, leading Brazil to the second place and scoring key goals against Colombia. Later, he was in action at the 2005 Confederations Cup, with Kaká scoring in the Confederation Cup final win over Argentina. (During the postmatch celebration, he and several of his teammates sported T-shirts with "Jesus Loves You" written in different languages.) He finished in joint tenth place in the voting for the 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year award. In the 2005 competition he finished two places higher. More recently, he helped Brazil qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Kaká has matured as a player and is currently considered as one of the best footballers from Brazil. He scored Brazil's first goal in the 2006 FIFA World Cup against Croatia on 13 June 2006. On September 3 of 2006 he scored one of his most brilliant goals for the Brazilian team after assisting a goal to a new team addition, Elano. Kaká received the ball off a deflection from an Argentina corner kick, and took the ball 3/4 of the field beating Argentine star Lionel Messi to score.

2006 World Cup

In the first match for Brazil, in group F, Kaká scored a goal in the 44th minute against Croatia. A left-foot strike from 25 meters led Brazil to the 1-0 victory. The media regarded him as the only member of the "magic quintet" – Adriano, Kaká, Ronaldo, Robinho and Ronaldinho – who produced in the match. Also against Ghana he wrote himself into the history books by assisting the goal that Ronaldo broke Gerd Muller's World Cup goalscoring record with. Unfortunately, he was unable to carry his momentum into the next match and Brazil were eliminated by France in the quarter finals.

Personal life

Kaká married Caroline Celico at the Reborn in Christ Church on December 23, 2005, two years after Kaká's move from São Paulo to Milan. Caroline was born on 26 July 1987 to Rosangela Lyra, the director of Dior in Brazil, and Celso Celico, an entrepreneur. She and Kaká met in 2001 while she was a student and he was playing for the São Paulo Football Club. The wedding was attended by about 600 people, including fellow Brazilian footballers Cafu, Ronaldo, Adriano, Dida, Júlio Baptista and (then) Brazilian national coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. Caroline plans to earn a business degree from a university in Milan.

Kaká is a devout evangelical Christian.

He is known to sport Christian gear from time to time: he has worn an "I Belong to Jesus" t-shirt on several occasions during matches, such as during the Brazilian team's celebration after their 2002 World Cup victory, and during Milan's Scudetto celebration in May 2004. He wears shoes customised with the same words written on them. Every time he scores he points his fingers to the sky as a sign of thanks to God, and, in what is possibly a first for a footballer at his level, he is proud that he was a virgin when he married.

Trivia

  • In Italian, the language of his current club team, the phonetic equivalent is written as Kakà. However, the player's shirt name is spelled KAKA' (with an apostrophe, rather than an accented 'A') for both his club in Milan and in the past for the Brazilian national team. In the World Cup 2006, the back of his shirt read KAKÁ. Kaká is also of Portuguese descent.
  • Since November 2004, Kaká has been an Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme. He was the youngest ambassador at the time of his appointment .

Honours

Team honours

Individual honours

  • Bola de Ouro (Golden Ball; Best Player Of Brazilian League), 2002
  • UEFA Club Football Awards 2004-05, Best Midfielder

Career statistics

Club Season Domestic
League 		Domestic
Cups 		Continental
Championship 		Intercontinental
Cup 		Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
AC Milan 2006-07 0 0 0 0 1 1 - - 1 1
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 2 1 0 48 12
Total 101 31 8 0 38 9 1 0 148 40
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 159 54 8 0 38 9 1 0 206 63

External links

References

  1. "How privileged Kaka made most of luck to become Brazil's master of magic". The Guardian. Retrieved June 17, 2006.
  2. "The golden boy of a golden team". The Independant. Retrieved June 4, 2006.
  3. "Kaka able to see beyond dollar signs". United Nations. Retrieved December 1, 2004.
  4. "Stars attend Kaka's wedding in Sao Paulo". The Star. Retrieved December 25, 2005.
  5. "How privileged Kaka made most of luck to become Brazil's master of magic". Guardian. Retrieved June 17, 2006.
  6. "The golden boy of a golden team". The Independent. Retrieved September 28, 2006.
  7. "How privileged Kaka made most of luck to become Brazil's master of magic". Guardian. Retrieved June 17, 2006.
Brazil squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup winners (5th title)
Brazil
Brazil squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup
Brazil
AC Milan – current squad
Categories: