Football Genius: Ricardo Kaka

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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