Kaka

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite was born in Brasília, Brazil on the 22nd of April, 1982 to Simone Cristina dos Santos Leite and Bosco 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. His performance attracted attention from European clubs, and it was AC Milan who won the race to sign him.

He joined AC Milan in 2003 for $8.5 m, a fee described as "peanuts" by club owner Silvio Berlusconi.[citation needed] Within a month, he became a first team regular, an he has been a starter ever since. He debuted in Serie A in an away match against Ancona, which Milan won 2-0. 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Kaká was an integral part of the five-man midfield in the 2004-05 season, usually playing in a withdrawn role behind striker Andriy Shevchenko.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 voted the best midfielder of the Champions League tournament. He also ended up in the ninth place in the 2005 Golden Ball poll, earning 19 votes.

One of Kaká's most notable goals has been 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 Kaká 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.

On November 1, 2006, AC Milan moved to within a point of the UEFA Champions League knockout stages as Kaká scored a hat-trick to help the team win 4-1 against RSC Anderlecht. This was his second hat-trick at Milan and his first hat-trick in European competitions.

International career

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 3 September 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. On 15 November 2006, Kaka was chosen as Brazil captain for a friendly match against Switzerland in the absence of current Brazil captain Lucio due to injury.

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 Müller's World Cup goalscoring record with. 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. [6] 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

* FIFA World Cup, 2002
* FIFA Confederations Cup, 2005
* Serie A,2003-2004
* Italian Super Cup 2004
* European Supercup, 2003

Individual honours

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