Kaka

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (Gama, Distrito Federal, April 22, 1982), known in sports as Kaká, is a former Brazilian soccer player who played in the position as a midfielder or playmaker. He was considered one of the best footballers in the world from the mid to late 2000s, especially standing out in his first spell with A.C. Milan.

He stood out especially for his great speed and acceleration, as well as great agility despite his height, great vision of the game and precision in both mid-distance shots and goal assists with both legs, an area in which which is ranked 11th in the history of professional football since records began, with a goal every three games and a passing accuracy of 91% throughout his entire career.

Emerged in São Paulo, where he won the Golden Boot for the best player in Brasileirão 2002, he was transferred to AC Milan for the 2003-04 season, in which he would be champion of Serie A and one of the great figures of the team. In 2007 he led Rossonero to win the Champions League, being the top scorer and best player of the tournament. He once again stood out in the Club World Cup, where he was also awarded as the star of the competition. Such achievements were key to him being awarded the FIFA World Player, the Ballon d'Or, and the FIFpro for the best player in the world that year.He was the last to win before the era of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi began.

He was an absolute international with the Brazilian team that won the 2002 World Cup and two editions of the Confederations Cup: 2005 and 2009, being awarded the Ballon d'Or in the latter.

His transfer to Real Madrid, in 2009, became the eighteenth most expensive signing in the history of football. Some injuries and a tense relationship with coach José Mourinho prevented him from developing his best level there and maintaining his position as a starter. He then returned to Milan in 2013, where he would play for a year, before leaving for Orlando City in the United States Major League Soccer. There he would announce his retirement after three seasons, on December 17, 2017.

Biography

Family

Kaká is the older brother of Rodrigo Izecson Dos Santos Leite, better known as Digão. Rodrigo followed in his brother's footsteps and played in Serie B, for the Rimini Calcio Football Club team, after he was loaned for a time from AC Milan.

Kaká, who is a member of the Evangelical Church, being one of the so-called "athletes of Christ", married Caroline Celico on December 23, 2005 in São Paulo, Brazil, at a wedding attended by soccer players from the national team, such as Ronaldo, Adriano, Cafú, Dida, Júlio Baptista, and the national coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, as well as international footballers, with a total of 600 guests. A couple of years after their marriage, Caroline gave birth to his first son, Luca Dos Santos Celico. On April 23, 2011, a girl was born, whom they named Isabella Alejandra.

In 2015 Kaká and Caroline Celico divorced.

Nickname

The hypocoristic "Kaká" is commonly used in Brazil for people named Ricardo. In the case of the footballer, he began to be called by his little brother Rodrigo. As in Italian the stressed vowels in high words are marked with a grave accent, during his time at AC Milan it was common for him to be referred to as " Kaka.

Accident

At the age of 18, Kaká suffered an accident when he jumped from the diving board of a swimming pool, where he fractured a vertebra. This could have meant the end of his football career. The club doctor told him that he had been saved. When AC Milan won the Serie A title in 2004, 'Ricky', as he is called by his teammates, showed off a shirt with the slogan I belong to Jesus ("I belong to Jesus"). He has also worn this shirt in celebrations such as the 2002 Soccer World Cup in which Brazil became champion for the fifth time.

Career

São Paulo

Kaká began his career in São Paulo at the age of eight. He signed a contract at the age of fifteen and led the São Paulo youth team to win the 'Glory Youth Cup'. He made his professional debut in February 2001 and scored 12 goals in 27 games, in addition to winning his first and only Rio-São Paulo Tournament, in which he scored two goals in two minutes as a substitute against Botafogo in the final, which São Paulo won 2-1.

In the following season he scored 10 goals in 22 games; This attracted the attention of several European clubs. Kaká made a total of 58 appearances for São Paulo, scoring 23 times.

A. C. Milan

He joined AC Milan in 2003 and his transfer was worth 8 and a half million dollars. His first appearance was in a match against Ancona, where Milan won 2-0. In the entire season he scored 10 goals in 30 appearances, winning the Serie A Championship and the European Super Cup.

Kaká, with the number 22 on his back, was part of the team that won the Serie A title in the 2003-04 season, playing with his good friend, the Ukrainian forward Andriy Shevchenko, with whom he formed a tandem fearsome in Italy. He scored seven goals in 36 league appearances, and also won the Italian Super Cup with his club. AC Milan finished second to Juventus in Serie A and lost the 2004-05 UEFA Champions League final against Liverpool on penalties. Despite his team's defeat, Kaká was chosen as the best midfielder of the European tournament. Besides,

finished in ninth place in the Ballon d'Or (2005).

In February 2007 he obtained Italian nationality, which allows him to play as a community player in Europe.

On May 23, 2007, they won their first UEFA Champions League, beating Liverpool 2 to 1 with two goals from Filippo Inzaghi in the final of the 2006-07 season.

On December 16, 2007, they won the FIFA Club World Cup, beating Boca Juniors 4-2, in Yokohama, Japan, in this final Kaká scored a goal (the 3-1 that sealed the match) and assisted Filippo Inzaghi's 2, the other goal would come from Alessandro Nesta on a rebound after a free kick from the right side taken by Andrea Pirlo.

That year was the best for Kaká, since due to his outstanding performance and the titles he obtained with AC Milan, he won the FIFA World Player awards, the Ballon d'Or from France Football magazine, the footballer of the year for World Soccer magazine, and the FIFpro for the best player in the world.

Real Madrid

On June 2, 2009, the newly inaugurated president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, met at the headquarters of his company ACS with Adriano Galliani, vice president of Milan, and Bosco Leite, the footballer's father, to negotiate the transfer of the Brazilian player to the Spanish club. After a long afternoon of uncertainty, both parties closed the signing of Kaká. While waiting for the signing to be made official by the clubs, the player himself declared what his future was going to be.

Subsequently, the club's advisor Zinedine Zidane acknowledged that everything had already been finalized for Kaká's arrival at Real Madrid, and Galliani had commented that opportunities like this could not be missed every year.

After passing the relevant medical examination in Brazil, due to his team's concentration for the FIFA Confederations Cup in Recife, on June 8, 2009, Kaká's transfer to the Spanish club Real Madrid for the sum of 65 euros was confirmed. million euros, thus being the first signing of the new era of Florentino Pérez as president of the club, in addition to being the eighth most expensive signing in the history of football.

On June 30, Kaká was presented as a new Real Madrid player in front of a Santiago Bernabéu stadium that recorded more than half an inning. After an intervention by Florentino Pérez, who welcomed him citing his full name, the Brazilian footballer took the floor, saying he was facing "a very special day"; and declared himself "very happy" in front of more than 50,000 spectators who chanted his name:

Today is a very special day for me, I am very happy that this new stage of my career will be in Real Madrid. My wish is to have my name in the history of this club, with victories and conquests. Hala Madrid.

His first goal in an official match with Real Madrid was in the match on the fourth day of the First Division, a match that was played against Villarreal and which Real Madrid won 0-2 at El Madrigal.

He would have a great start to the season, scoring against Tenerife in the league and Marseille in the Champions League consecutively, in addition to good performances against Atlético de Madrid (scoring a goal) and against FC Barcelona. In the middle of the season his performance was declining due to injuries, which would prevent him from playing most of the season's games. Finally he could not win titles, because he would lose the league against Barcelona, he would be eliminated from the Champions League and the cup, against Lyon and Alcorcón respectively. At the end of the season he left a mark of 9 goals and 8 assists, although his performance was not as expected.

For the 2010-11 season with José Mourinho as coach, he would miss half of the campaign due to a serious knee injury, which he suffered in the last edition of the World Cup. He managed to return on January 3, 2011 in a league match against Getafe. He scored his first goal of the season against Villarreal on January 9, 2011. This season he managed to win his first title with Real Madrid on April 20, 2011 against FC Barcelona in the Copa del Rey.

In the 2011-2012 season, he got off to a good start in the Champions League, where he was the top assist player with 8 assists. He scored 8 goals and 16 assists and played 40 games throughout the season, and won La Liga BBVA for what is considered his best season at the Madrid club.

At the beginning of the 2012-2013 season, he had an excellent start, scoring a hat-trick against the Colombian team Millonarios FC in the 2012 Santiago Bernabéu Trophy. On December 4, 2012, he became the Brazilian top scorer in the Champions League with 29 goals. His level declined after the return of the 2012-2013 season. This is considered his worst season at Real Madrid, where he only played 26 games, scoring 8 goals and 5 assists.

Return to A.C. Milan

On September 2, 2013, Real Madrid and Milan reached an agreement for the transfer of Brazilian Kaká, who returned to the Italian club for free and with an initial contract for two seasons. With this new contract, the Brazilian's salary was reduced, going from 10 to 4 million euros per season plus different bonuses.

On September 14, 2013, she officially debuted with Milan, in a League match against Torino, this time, it was the second time she wore the Italian club's shirt, debuting against Ancona about 10 seasons ago.

On September 16, 2013, his abductor injury officially occurred, the Brazilian would be out for 2 or 3 weeks recovering from his injury. Kaká states that he will not collect his salary while he is recovering from it.

On January 6, 2014, he scored his 100th goal and later his 101st with the Rossonero team, thus becoming the tenth player in the club's history to reach this figure.

Orlando City

After his time in Italy and breaking his contract with Milan through a termination by mutual agreement, the player signed for Orlando City of the MLS. The Brazilian was on loan at São Paulo during the 2014 season, contributing his football to the team where he made his professional debut.

Kaká made his MLS debut by scoring a goal in Orlando City's opening match of the 2015 season against the league's other new franchise, New York City Football Club. The match would end 1-1.

In his first game of 2016, on April 3, he scored a goal in the 4-1 win over the Portland Timbers. On August 28, 2016, he scored both goals in the 2-1 victory over New York City at home, and he scored twice again in the 4-1 away win at Montreal Impact's home on September 7.

On April 29, 2017 he returned, scoring a goal in the 2-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids, doing so in the last minute of the game.

On October 15, 2017, Kaká would play his last game with this team, in the 1-0 loss against Columbus Crew, where he would leave in tears.

National team

Kaká made his international debut on January 31, 2002 against Bolivia in Goiânia, a match that ended with the victory of the Brazilian National Team 6-0. Later, Kaká was part of his country's National Team during the 2002 Soccer World Cup, but he did not have much of a role in Brazil's victory in the championship; he played only 19 minutes in the second half against Costa Rica.

Some time later, he entered action in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, both won by Brazil, standing out with the second goal in the 4-1 victory against Argentina in the final of the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Kaká helped Brazil qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany where the team was eliminated in the quarterfinals by France.

On June 28, 2009, Kaká won the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup when Brazil defeated the United States 3-2 in the final at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg. Likewise, he was named by FIFA as the best player in the tournament with the distinction of the Ballon d'Or.

He played in the 2010 Soccer World Cup, arriving after an injury while playing for Real Madrid. In that tournament he was expelled on the second date of the group stage against Ivory Coast where, despite the 3-1 victory, this marked his suspension against Portugal and his loss of performance until the elimination of the verdeamarela by the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. He was not called up for the rest of the year and was not called up in 2011 either.

After several months of absence from the squad, coach Menezes calls him up for the friendlies against Gabon and Egypt, where he was unable to play in either due to injury. In 2012 he was called up for friendly matches against the Iraq and Japan football teams where the Brazil football team won 6-0 and 4-0 respectively, Kaká scored a goal in each match. Despite returning to the national team, with the arrival of Luiz Felipe Scolari to the Brazilian bench, Kaká was once again limited in the selection and did not manage to be called up to either the 2013 Confederations Cup or the FIFA World Cup. 2014 football.

After a year and a half without being included in the squad, in October 2014 coach Dunga called him up to face the friendlies against Argentina and Turkey due to the absence of Ricardo Goulart and on May 12, 2015 coach Dunga named him The pre-list of 30 called up for the 2015 Copa América to be played in Chile, but was finally excluded from the final list of 23, on August 13, 2015 he was called up again for the friendlies against Costa Rica and the United States. and the Qualifiers for the 2018 Soccer World Cup, in the matches against Chile and Venezuela, in October 2015. In 2016 he was called up for a friendly against Panama and to play in the Copa América Centenario, although he did not manage to participate due to an injury., where he was replaced by Paulo Henrique Ganso. Brazil was eliminated by Peru in the first phase. Kaká missed four calls to the Copa América (2007, 2011, 2015 and Centenario)

He was not called up again in the verdeamarela by the new coach Tite, which is why he lost the opportunity to play in the 2018 Soccer World Cup where Brazil was eliminated in the quarterfinals against Belgium at lose 2-1.

Participations in World Cups

World	Headquarters	Outcome	Parties	Goles
Sub-20 World Cup 2001	Argentina	Final rooms	5	1
World Cup 2002	South KoreaSouth Korea and JapanJapan	Champion	1	0
World Cup 2006	GermanyGermany	Final rooms	5	1
World Cup 2010	South Africa	Final rooms	4	0

Gold Cup Participations

Cup	Headquarters	Outcome	Parties	Goles
Gold Cup 2003	United States and Mexico Mexico	Subfield	5	3

Participations in the FIFA Confederations Cup

Cup	Headquarters	Outcome	Parties	Goles
Confederations Cup 2005	GermanyGermany	Champion	5	1
Confederations Cup 2009	South Africa	Champion	5	2

Participations in World Cup Qualifiers

Elimination	Country	Outcome	Position	Parties	Calls	Goles
Germany 2006	GermanyGermany	Classified	1o	15	15	5
South Africa 2010	South Africa	Classified	1o	11	11	5
Eliminating Russia 2018	Russia Russia	Classified	1o	1	4	0

Statistics

Clubs

Club	Div.	Season	League			Regional(1)			National Cups(2)			International Tournaments(3)			Total(4)			Average score
			Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.
São Paulo BrazilBrazil
	1. a	2001	27	12	4	15	4	1	10	2	4	5	0	0	57	18	9	32
		2002	22	9	7	16	7	4	11	6	1	-			49	22	12	0.45
		2003	10	2	4	7	5	4	5	0	0	-			22	7	8	32
		2014	19	2	1	-			-			5	1	2	24	3	3	0.13
	Total club		78	25	16	38	16	9	26	8	5	10	1	2	128	47	29	0.60
AC Milan ItalyItaly
	1. a	2003-04	30	10	4	-			4	0	0	11	4	1	45	14	5	0.31
		2004-05	36	7	12	-			2	0	0	13	2	5	51	9	17	0.18
		2005-06	35	14	8	-			2	0	1	12	5	1	49	19	10	0.39
		2006-07	31	8	6	-			2	0	0	15	10	4	48	18	10	0.38
		2007-08	30	15	10	-			-			11	4	5	41	19	15	0.46
		2008-09	31	16	9	-			1	0	1	4	0	2	36	16	12	0.44
		2013-14	30	7	4	-			1	0	0	6	2	1	37	9	5	0.24
	Total club		223	77	53	0	0	0	12	0	2	72	27	19	307	104	81	0.34
Real Madrid CF SpainSpain
	1. a	2009-10	25	8	6	-			1	0	0	7	1	2	33	9	8	0.27
		2010-11	14	7	4	-			3	0	0	3	0	1	20	7	5	0.35
		2011-12	27	5	10	-			5	0	0	8	3	6	40	8	16	0.20
		2012-13	19	3	3	-			2	1	0	6	1	1	27	5	4	0.19
	Total club		85	23	23	0	0	0	11	1	0	24	5	10	120	29	39	0.24
Orlando City United States
	1. a	2015	28	9	7	-			2	1	0	-			30	10	7	0.33
		2016	24	9	9	-			-			-			24	9	9	0.38
		2017	23	6	4	-			1	0	0	-			24	6	4	0.25
	Total club		75	24	20	0	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	78	25	19	32
Total career			461	149	112	38	16	9	52	10	7	106	33	31	657	208	159	32
(1) Includes data from the Rio-São Paulo Tournament / Paulista Championship (2001-03). (2) Includes data from the Brazil Cup / Copa dos Campeões (2001-03); Supercopa de Italia (2004); Copa del Rey / Supercopa de España (2009-12); Copa Italia (2003-14); Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2015-17). (3) It includes data from the Mercosur Cup (2001); UEFA Intercontinental / Super Cup / FIFA World Cup / UEFA Cup (2003-08); UEFA Champions League (2003-14); South American Cup (2014). (4) It does not include goals in friendly matches.

Selections

Selection	Season	Friendly			South America(1)			World(2)			Total			Average score
		Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.
Sub-20 BrazilBrazil	2001	-			-			5	1	0	5	1	0	0.20
	Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1	0	5	1	0	0.20
Sub-23 BrazilBrazil	2003	5	4	4	-			-			5	4	4	0.80
	Total	5	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	4	4	0.80
Absolute BrazilBrazil	2002	4	1	1	-			1	0	0	5	1	1	0.20
	2003	1	0	0	4	2	0	5	3	0	10	5	0	0.50
	2004	3	1	0	5	2	1	-			8	3	1	0.38
	2005	3	1	1	6	1	2	5	1	1	14	3	4	0.21
	2006	8	6	3	-			5	1	1	13	7	4	0.54
	2007	8	2	1	4	3	1	-			12	5	2	0.42
	2008	1	0	2	2	1	0	-			3	1	2	0.33
	2009	3	0	1	5	1	2	5	2	2	13	3	5	0.23
	2010	3	1	1	-			4	0	3	7	1	4	0.14
	2011	-			-			-			0	0	0	0.00
	2012	3	2	1	-			-			3	2	1	0.67
	2013	2	0	0	-			-			2	0	0	0.00
	2014	2	0	1	-			-			2	0	1	0.00
	2015	1	0	0	1	0	0	-			2	0	0	0.00
	2016	1	0	0	-			-			1	0	0	0.00
	Total	43	14	12	27	10	6	25	7	7	95	31	25	0.33
Total career		48	18	16	27	10	6	30	8	7	105	36	29	0.34
(1) Includes South American Classifications (2003-15). (2) Includes the Gold Cup matches of the Concacaf / FIFA Cup Confederations (2003-09).

Hat-tricks

Matches in which he scored three or more goals
N.o	Date	Stadium	Party	Goles	Outcome	Competition
1	29 January 2003	Morumbi, São Paulo	São Paulo - Juventus		6 - 0	Paulist Championship 2003
2	9 April 2006	San Siro, Milan	AC Milan - AC Chievo Verona		4 - 1	Series A 2005-06
3	1 November 2006	San Siro, Milan	AC Milan - RSC Anderlecht		4 - 1	UEFA Champions League 2006-07
4	20 April 2008	San Siro, Milan	AC Milan - Reggina Calcio		5 - 1	Series A 2007-08

Palmarés

Regional championships

Title	Club	Country	Year
Rio-São Paulo Tournament	São Paulo	BrazilBrazil	2001
Paulist Supercampus			2002

National Championships

Title	Club	Country	Year
Series A	A. C. Milan	ItalyItaly	2004
Supercopa de Italia			2004
Copa del Rey	Real Madrid	SpainSpain	2011
Spanish League			2012
Supercopa de España			2012

International championships

Title	Equipment	Headquarters	Year
World Cup Soccer	Selection of Brazil	South KoreaSouth Korea and JapanJapan	2002
Confederations Cup		GermanyGermany	2005
Confederations Cup		South Africa	2009
European Super Cup	A. C. Milan	MonacoMonaco	2003
Champions League		Athens	2007
European Super Cup		MonacoMonaco	2007
Club World Cup		JapanJapan	2007

Individual distinctions