Full name : Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite
Date of birth : April 22, 1982 (1982-04-22) (age 27)
Place of birth : Brasília, Brazil
Height : 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position : Attacking midfielder / Second striker
Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (Portuguese pronunciation: , born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká, is a Brazilian football midfielder who plays for Real Madrid and the Brazilian national team. He is widely considered as one of the best footballers of his generation, often drawing comparisons in style and ability to other great footballers as Michel Platini, Sócrates, Zico, and Pelé. His footballing style is unique as he has the technique of a Brazilian and the physical qualities of a European. Kaká started his footballing career at the age of 8 when he began playing for a local club called "Alphaville". By then he also played Tennis, and it was not until he moved on to Sao Paolo FC, and signed his first professional contract at the age of fifteen that it came by that he had chosen football. He was the recipient of both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards in 2007. Besides his contributions on the pitch Kaká is also famous for his humanitarian works, and work against poverty. In 2004, By the time of his appointment he became the youngest Ambassador of UNICEF food program. Having coming back from an almost paralyzing accident in 2001 at the age of eighteen, Kaká attributes his recovery to God.
Kaka Club Career
Kaka began his career with grassroots club Sao Paulo at the age of eight. He signed a contract at 15 and led the São Paulo youth squad to Copa de Juvenil glory. Kaka made his senior side debut in January 2001 and scored 12 goals in 27 appearances, in addition to leading Sao Paulo to its first and only Torneio Rio-Sao Paulo championship where he scored two goals in two minutes in his first team debut as a substitute against Botafogo in the final which Sao Paolo won with 2–1. He scored 10 goals in 22 matches the following season, and by this time his performance was soon attracting attention from European clubs. Kaka made a total of 58 appearances for Sao Paulo, scoring 23 times.
International Career
Kaka was called up for the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship but the Brazilians crashed out to Ghana at the quarterfinals. Several months later, he made his debut for Brazil in a friendly match against Bolivia on January 31, 2002. He was part of the 2002 FIFA World Cup-winning squad, but played only 25 minutes, all of which were in the first round match against Costa Rica.
In 2003, Kaka was the captain for the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament, where Brazil, competing as with their Under-23 team, finished as runner-up to Mexico. He scored three goals during the tournament. He was included in Brazil's squad for 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup in Germany He appeared in all five matches and scored one goal in a 4–1 win over Argentina in the final.
Kaka started in his first FIFA World Cup finals in 2006 and scored his first and only goal of the tournament in Brazil's 1–0 victory over Croatia in Brazil's opener, for which he was named Man of the Match.[27] He was unable to keep up the momentum for the remainder of the tournament, as Brazil was eliminated by France in the quarterfinals. In a friendly against rivals Argentina on September 3, 2006, after entering as a substitute, he received the ball off a deflection from an Argentina corner kick and outran Lionel Messi while taking the ball down three quarters of the field to score.
On May 12, 2007, citing an exhaustive schedule of Serie A, Champions League and national team play, Kaká bowed out of the 2007 Copa America, which Brazil won. After missing out on the Copa América, he returned to play in Brazil's friendly match against Algeria on August 22, 2007.
Kaka participated in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, marking his first international tournament since the 2006 World Cup. His only two goals came in Brazil's group stage opener against Egypt on June 14, when he scored a goal in the fifth minute and then added a 90th-minute penalty in Brazil's 4–3 victory. He received the Golden Ball as the player of the tournament at the Confederations Cup and was also named the man of the match in the final after helping Brazil to a 3-2 win against USA.
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