Kaka Leite Biography

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (simply known Kaka) was born April 22, 1982 in Brasília, Brazil. Kaka is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Brazil and the Serie A club A.C. Milan. After spending his early days at different youth clubs around his home town of Brasilia and Sao Paulo, Kaka was eventually offered a professional contract at a seventeen age.Since Kaka played great soccer for Sao Paulo's youth teams, the reserve team and the Brazilian U-17 national squad, he immediately attracted the eyes of several European clubs, the one coming forward first being Turkish side Gaziantepspor.He is one of the budding young stars in world football.

In his first season as a professional player for Sao Paulo, Kaka didn't play for the Brazilian team, but he used this time to accommodate himself with his new colleagues and the hardships of professional soccer in Brazil. After fully recovering from his horrible fracture, Kaka was finally given a chance to play for Sao Paulo, in January 2001 and he didn't disappoint, scoring no less than 12 goals in 27 appearances that season. This guaranteed him a solid first team place for the 2001-2002 season, in which he scored another 10 goals in 22 matches and whenever a young Brazilian soccer player performs that well, he's bound to get a few calls from some major European clubs.One of these clubs would be AC Milan, one of Italy's most important teams and Kaka signed without blinking, eager to start a European career.You probably know the story from here. Kaka is currently in his fourth season with Milan, whom he won the Serie A championship with once, the Italian Super Cup once, and the UEFA Champions League a few weeks ago (he also played another Champions League final in the 2004-2005 season, but lost it to Liverpool in what is considered one of the most beautiful finals of the tournament). He became an indispensable player for AC Milan but also for Brazil.As a Brazil soccer player, Kaka scored 31 goals in 52 matches so far and gave out numerous perfect assists in his role as an attacking midfielder. Having the young midfielder in the squad, Brazil football became even more technical and quick (if that was even possible) and they're considered amongst the main favorites for the following international tournaments.

Kaká has become a vital part of the Brazilian National team from his debut in January, 2002. He played a role in Brazil’s 2002 FIFA World Cup win. Kaká has matured into a midfield genius for Brazil. Kaká is currently considered as one of Brazil’s best soccer players. In the FIFA World Cup 2006, Kaká scored the first goal for Brazil of the soccer tournament. Despite a mighty start in the group stages, Brazil was knocked out by the France soccer club in the quarter finals.

In April 2007, a group of sports experts arranged by the Gazzetta Dello Sport in Italy proclaimed Kaká as the world’s best soccer player. Kaká is expected to win the most prestigious individual prize in soccer, the Ballon d’Or. Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson proclaimed Kaká as one of the two best soccer players on the globe—alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.

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Early Life

Kaká was born to Simone Cristina dos Santos Leite and Bosco Izecson Pereira Leite. He has a younger brother, Rodrigo (known as Digão), who has followed in Kaká's footsteps by playing football in Italy.

In September 2000, at the age of 18, Kaká suffered a career-threatening and possibly paralysis-inducing spine fracture as a result of a swimming pool accident, but remarkably made a full recovery. The next year, Kaká made his comeback on the pitch, when he came in as a reserve-substitute in the Torneio Rio-São Paulo final match and scored two goals, among them the match-winner, in less than five minutes. He thanks God for his recovery and since tithed his income to his church.

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Club Career

Kaká began his club career with São Paulo at the age of 8. He signed a contract at 15 and led the SPFC youth squad to Copa de Juvenil glory. In 2000, the club was set to sell Kaká to Turkish 1st division side Gaziantepspor, who turned down the deal after refusing to pay a price of $1.5m for him. Kaká made his São Paulo senior debut in January 2001 and scored 12 goals in 27 appearances, in addition to leading São Paulo to its first and only Torneio Rio-São Paulo championship. He scored 10 in 22 matches the following season, and by this time his performance was soon attracting attention from European clubs.

AC Milan, fresh from winning the UEFA Champions League 2002-03, brought him aboard in 2003 for $8.5 million, a fee described in hindsight as "peanuts" by club owner Silvio Berlusconi. Within a month, he cracked the starting lineup, and has remained there since. His Serie A debut was in a 2-0 Milan win at A.C. Ancona. He scored 10 goals in 30 appearances that season, as Milan won the Scudetto 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 domestic appearances as Milan finished runner-up to Juventus. Despite Milan losing the 2004-05 Champions League final to Liverpool F.C. on penalties, he was nonetheless voted the best midfielder of the tournament, and also finished ninth, with 19 votes, in the running for the 2005 Ballon D'Or.

The 2005-06 season saw Kaká score his first hat-tricks in domestic and European competition. On April 9, 2006, he scored his first Rossoneri hat-trick against Chievo Verona. All three goals were scored in the second half. Seven months later, he scored his first Champions League hat-trick in a 4-1 group stage win over RSC Anderlecht. The football world was beginning to take notice of a superstar in the making. Following Rui Costa's departure to Benfica at the end of the season, and despite the insistence of many Milan fans, Kaká turned down the chance to switch from his number 22 to the now-vacant #10, a number typically associated with world-class scorers. (The number was eventually claimed by teammate Clarence Seedorf.)

Shevchenko's departure to Chelsea FC for the 2006-07 season allowed Kaká to become the focal point of Milan's offense as he alternated between the midfield and striker positions. He finished as the top scorer in the 2006-07 CL campaign with ten goals, which proved a huge catalyst in steering Milan back to European success. One of them helped the Rossoneri squeak by Celtic FC 1-0 after extra time in the quarterfinals on a 1-0 aggregate, and three others proved fatal for Manchester United in the semifinals despite Milan losing the first leg. Following the convincing 3-0 second-leg defeat at the San Siro on May 2 that knocked out the English champions, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson declared that Kaka was one of the two best players in the world, alongside his charge Cristiano Ronaldo. The previous month, a panel of experts set up by Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport proclaimed Kaká as the world's best footballer. Shevchenko also included his endorsement, while suggesting that Kaká deserved to win the Ballon d'Or.

Kaká added the Champions League title to his trophy case for the first time when Milan defeated Liverpool F.C. 2-1 in Athens on May 23, 2007. Though he went scoreless, he won a free kick that led to the first of Filippo Inzaghi's two goals, and provided the assist for the second. For his stellar play throughout the competition, he was voted the Vodafone Fans' Player of the Season in a poll of over 100,000 UEFA.com visitors. In June 2007, German football publication Kicker named him the world's best player, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho finishing second and third, respectively, while he was also given this honor by UK publication The Times.

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National Team

National Team

Kaká made his Seleção debut in January 2002 against Bolivia. He was part of the 2002 FIFA World Cup-winning squad, but played only 19 minutes, all of which were in the first round match against Costa Rica. During the final against Germany, coach Luis Felipe Scolari was reportedly about to send Kaká on as a substitute, but he never made it into the game as the referee did not notice him waving on the sidelines to enter the pitch.

In 2003,Kaká was the captain for the Gold Cup tournament, where Brazil finished as runner-up, as did Kaká with a second-best three goals. He was also named as one of the competition's top eleven players by position. On June 29, 2005, he scored in a 4-1 defeat of Argentina in the 2005 Confederations Cup final, with a powerful shot into the upper right-hand corner of the net. He finished in joint tenth place in the voting for the 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year award, and finished two spots higher the following year.

Kaká started in his first FIFA World Cup Finals in 2006, scoring his first and only goal in a 1-0 victory over Croatia in Brazil's opening match. Unfortunately, he was unable to keep up his momentum for the remainder of the tournament as Brazil were ingloriously eliminated by France in the quarterfinals. On September 3, 2006, he scored one of his most brilliant goals for Brazil, receiving the ball off a deflection from an Argentina corner kick and 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 openly bowed out of the 2007 Copa América, which was won by Brazil. "I haven't had a break for three seasons. I won't have the form to achieve what is expected of me at an international level." Brazil coach Dunga took the optimistic route, declaring that while he was disappointed about Kaká's decision, his absence would subsequently free up a roster spot for a lesser-used player. Kaká, however, did play 70 minutes of Brazil's 1-1 friendly draw with England on June 1, but only 30 in a lackluster goalless draw with Turkey on June 5.

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Kaka Leite Career

• Name: Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite
• Nicknames: Kaká, The Golden Boy
• Nationality: Brazilian
• Date and Place of Birth: April 22, 1982 in Brasília, Brazil
• Playing Position: Midfield
• Current Club: A.C. Milan (Italian Serie A)
• Club Career History: 2001-2003 São Paulo - 58 appearances, 23 goals
2003-present A.C. Milan - 101 appearances, 31 goals*
• International Career: 2002-present Brazil - 47 appearances, 17 goals*

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