Kaká

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

Biography

Kaká was born in Brasília, Brazil, 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 soccer in Italy and is currently on loan with Serie B team Rimini, after having spent some time in the AC Milan youth squad.

The nickname Kaká, from his native Portuguese, is pronounced as it is spelled. The accent would signify that the stress is on the second syllable. 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.

An internet discussion forum explains the nickname as a commonly used shortened form of "Ricardo" in Portuguese. Supposedly, 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 the latter later changed to "Kaká".

In September 2000, Kaká suffered an accident when he made a faulty slide off of a pool slide, suffering a 6th vertebra fracture. This could have meant the end of his football career. It did not, however, and he credited his recovery to divine assistance. When AC Milan won the Serie A title in 2004, Kaká subtly sported a shirt with the slogan "I belong to Jesus." He also points his fingers to the sky every time he scores. Kaká is a devout, evangelical Protestant Christian and a long-time member of "Athletes For God," along with Cafu, his teammate at both AC Milan and the Brazilian national team. His preferred style of music is gospel, particularly that of the Christian bands Switchfoot and Sonicflood.

Personal life

In 2002 Kaká met Brazilian student Caroline Celico (born in 1987) and they started dating soon after. Celico is from a wealthy São Paulo family with her mother, Rosangela Lyra, as the director of Dior in Brazil and her father, Celso Celico, as an entrepreneur. The relationship survived Kaká's move from São Paulo to Italy in 2003, while she was still at school.

Kaká married Celico on 23 December, 2005 in São Paulo. About 600 people attended the wedding, including fellow Brazilian footballers Cafu, Ronaldo, Adriano, Dida, Júlio Baptista and Brazilian national coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. Against the stereotypical trend of football stars, Kaká is proud he was a virgin when he married.^*

Career

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 and the 2005 Confederations Cup, which were both won by Brazil, with Kakà 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.

He wears number 8 for the national squad.

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. Unfortunately, he was unable to carry his momentum into further matches and Brazil were eventually eliminated by France in the quarter finals.

Club career

Kaká made his debut at São Paulo FC in 2001 when he was 19 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 Serie A hat-trick, against Chievo Verona. All three goals were scored in the second half.

He wears number 22 for Milan. He recently extended his contract with the club until 2011.

Club career statistics

Club	Season	Domestic League		Domestic Cup & Super Cup		Continental Championship		Toyota Cup		Total
Club	Season	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
AC Milan	2005-06	33	14	2	0	8	5	-	-	38	19
	2004-05	36	7	2	0	13	2	-	-	51	9
	2003-04	30	10	4	0	13	2	1	0	48	12
	Total	93	25	8	0	33	8	1	0	134	33
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		152	48	8	0	33	8	1	0	193	56

External links

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