kak biography

Personal information
Full name Ricardo Izecson
dos Santos Leite
Date of birth April 22, 1982 (age 24)
Place of birth Brasília, Brazil
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) Nickname Kaká, Ricky
Position Attacking Midfielder
Club information
Current club A.C. Milan
Number 22
Professional clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2001-2003
2003-present São Paulo
A.C. Milan 58 (23)
116 (36)
National team2
2002-present Brazil 47 (17)

1 Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of december 24, 2006.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of November 25, 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

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.
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Club career
2.2 International career
2.2.1 2006 World Cup
3 Personal life
4 Trivia
5 Honours
6 Career statistics
7 References
8 External links

Early life

Kaká 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 [1], 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". [2]

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. One year later Kaká made his comeback on the pitch, when he came in as a reserve-substute in the Tornero Rio Final. His team was down by one goal when the coach decided to put on the reserve, Kaká with 14 minutes left. The commentators were going crazy and said that there was some possibility that the Sao Paulo coach was crazy, but after two minutes Kaká had scored two goals and taken his team to a victory. He attributes his recovery to God and has since tithed his income to his church.[3]

Career

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. At the age of 17, while he was still at the youth squad, Sao Paulo was set to sell Kaká to Turkish 1st division side Gaziantepspor. The deal did not occur, however, because the manager of Gaziantepspor, Nurullah Sağlam, and the clubs board refused to pay a price of $1.5m for the 17 year old.[citation needed] After joining São Paulo FC senior squad, his performance attracted attention from European clubs.

He joined AC Milan in 2003 for US $8.5 m, a fee described in hind-sight as "peanuts" by club owner Silvio Berlusconi.[4] Within a month, he became a first team regular, and 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. Kaká signalled his intention to stay by signing 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.

Best player in the world In 2006 Kaká was considered by many experts and journalists that he was the best player in the world. A poll by the brazilian magazine O`globo was made with the question who`s the best player in the world? The results showed that Kaká got 81,5% of the votes, while Ronaldinho got 11%. Other discussions took place on Gazzeta dello sport, the italian giant, where the same topic was brought up. Kaká won also there and was claimed to be the best player in the world, the panel in gazzeta dello sport was a group of experts.

In November 2006 Kakás coach Carlo Ancelotti made a statement that Kaká should win the golden ball that year.

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 to score. On 15 November 2006, Kaká 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.[5]

Kaká is a devout evangelical Christian. [6]

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. [7] 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.[8]

Trivia
Kaká is also of Portuguese descent.
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 a member of the "Athletes of Christ" organization. [9]
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
Kaká's favourite music is gospel music. [10]
Kaká's motto in life is "I belong to Jesus" and "God is faithful", which he has stitched onto the tongue of his Adidas boots. [11]
Kakás favourite book is the Bible
In his freetime he likes to be in church, read the bible, and be with his family, particuarly his younger brother Digao.
Adriano, Kaká's teammate in the international side, said that he holds Kaká as one of his soccer idols.
Kaká has many times been called "the new pele" or the "white pelé"
Pelé once described him as having brazilian technique combined with european strentgh, which is why he has been so successful in Italy.
On February 12, 2007, Kaká obtained the Italian citizenship.[12]

Honours

Club
Torneo Rio 2001
Supercampionato Paulista 2002
European Super Cup: 2003
Serie A: 2004
Italian Super Cup: 2004
UEFA Champions League 2004-05: Runners-up

International
FIFA World Cup: 2002
Confederations Cup: 2005

Individual honours
Bola de Ouro (Golden Ball; Best Player Of Brazilian League), 2002
UEFA Club Football Awards 2004-05, Best Midfielder
Premio A.I.C. Miglior Giocatore Assoluto (Absolute best player): 2003/2004
Preceded by
Zlatan Ibrahimović Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year
2006 Succeeded by
current holder
Preceded by
Deco UEFA Champions League Best Midfielder
2004-05 Succeeded by
Deco
Preceded by
Pavel Nedvěd Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year
2004 Succeeded by
Zlatan Ibrahimović

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 18 5 1 0 8 5 - - 27 10
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 4 1 0 48 14
Total 119 36 9 0 46 16 1 0 175 52
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 16 1 0 206 70

References
^ How privileged Kaka made most of luck to become Brazil's master of magic (English). The Guardian. Retrieved on June 17, 2006.
^ The golden boy of a golden team (English). The Independent. Retrieved on June 4, 2006.
^ Kaka able to see beyond dollar signs (English). United Nations. Retrieved on December 1, 2004.
^ Kaka: My +10 team (English). FIFAworldcup.com. Retrieved on December 9, 2006.
^ Stars attend Kaka’s wedding in São Paulo (English). The Star. Retrieved on December 25, 2005.
^ How privileged Kaka made most of luck to become Brazil's master of magic (English). Guardian. Retrieved on June 17, 2006.
^ The golden boy of a golden team (English). The Independent. Retrieved on September 28, 2006.
^ How privileged Kaka made most of luck to become Brazil's master of magic (English). Guardian. Retrieved on June 17, 2006.
^ Interview (English). Atletas de Cristo. Retrieved on December 26, 2006.
^ Public Chat Session (English). RickyKaka.com. Retrieved on December 26, 2006.
^ Public Chat Session (English). RickyKaka.com. Retrieved on December 26, 2006.
^ (Italian) [1]

External links
Profile at ACMilan.com
2006 FIFA World Cup Player Profile
Kaká's career timeline, photo gallery and detailed statistics
KAKAFANS.NET - BIGGEST SOURCE FOR RICARDO KAKA ONLINE
A.C. Milan - Current Squad

1 Dida | 2 Cafu | 3 Maldini | 4 Kaladze | 5 Costacurta | 7 Oliveira | 8 Gattuso | 9 Inzaghi | 10 Seedorf | 11 Gilardino | 13 Nesta | 15 Borriello | 16 Kalac | 17 Šimić | 18 Jankulovski | 19 Favalli | 20 Gourcuff | 21 Pirlo | 22 Kaká | 23 Ambrosini | 24 Grimi | 25 Bonera | 26 Storari | 27 Serginho | 28 Guerci | 29 Fiori | 30 Facchin | 31 Antonelli | 32 Brocchi | 33 Di Gennaro | 34 Bottini | 35 Aubameyang | 36 Darmian | 37 Bruscagin | 38 Lunati | 39 Vitofrancesco | 44 Oddo | 99 Ronaldo | Coach: Ancelotti