Claudiano Bezerra da Silva (born 16 May 1981), known as Kaká (), is a Brazilian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Kaká was born in

São José do Belmonte São José do Belmonte is a city and municipality in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. The population in 2020, according with IBGE was 34,021 inhabitants and the total area is 1474.09 km². Geography * State - Pernambuco * Region - Sertão P ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...

. Until 2006 he was on contract to

União Bandeirante Futebol Clube União Bandeirante Futebol Clube, usually known as União Bandeirante was a football (soccer) team from the city of Bandeirantes, in the state of Paraná, Brazil. History On November 15, 1964, União Bandeirante Futebol Clube was founded as Us ...

, also being loaned to several modest Brazilian clubs. For 2006–07 he made the move to Europe, joining Portuguese side Académica de Coimbra and being an undisputed starter in his second season in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

(all 30 games played, 2,700 minutes of action), as they finished in 12th position. In May 2008, Kaká signed with

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

1.9 million. He made his debut in the competition on 17 August, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 away win against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

, and finished his debut campaign with 12 matches. After only appearing twice for the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

-based team in the first half of 2009–10 – the season eventually ended in relegation – he was loaned to

AC Omonia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Oμόνοιας Λευκωσίας, ΑΣΟΛ; ''Athlitikos Sillogos Omonias Lefkosias'', ''ASOL''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia ("Harmony"; also trans ...

in Cyprus on 31 January 2010, helping it win the First Division title for the first time in seven years. Kaká continued to be rarely played at Hertha after his return and, in another winter

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

move, returned to Portugal and joined

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese ...

, yet on loan. With the Minho club he established himself as a regular, finishing the 2010–11 season with 20 competitive appearances, including eight in the team's

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, with the player taking the field in the decisive game against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

(1–0 loss). At the end of the season, Kaká returned to Hertha. On the last day of the 2011 summer transfer window he was once again loaned, this time to Cypriot champions and

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

contenders

APOEL FC APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

. Kaká made his debut in the Champions League on 19 October 2011 in a 1–1 draw with Porto at the ''

Estádio do Dragão The Estádio do Dragão (; English: Dragon Stadium) is an all-seater football stadium in Porto, Portugal, and the home ground of FC Porto since 2003. It has a seating capacity of 50,033, making it the third largest football stadium in Portugal ...

''. He added a further three appearances in the competition as they eventually became the first Cypriot club to reach both the knockout stages and the quarter-finals for the first time ever. On 28 August 2012, Kaká signed with Hungarian side

Videoton FC Videoton may refer to: *Videoton (company), Hungarian electronics company *Fehérvár FC, formerly known as Videoton FC, Hungarian football club See also *Vidéotron Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable t ...

. In late January of the following year he moved to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

, loaned to

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

, and the move was made permanent in July. Kaká signed an 18-month contract with APOEL on 29 January 2014, returning to his former club after one and a half years. He made his debut on 9 February, coming on as an 84th-minute substitute in a 2–1 league home victory over

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

, and scored his first goal one week later in his team's 3–1 defeat of

Alki Larnaca FC Alki Larnaca ( el, ΑΛΚΗ Λάρνακας, ''ALKI Larnakas'') was a Cypriot football club based in the town of Larnaca. The club was founded in 1948 and it was dissolved on the 6th of May of 2014 due to financial issues. The club's colours wer ...

. On 17 May 2014, in the league title decider between

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, translation=Athletic Union of Limassol) commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL also maintain ...

and APOEL, Kaká suffered a head injury when he was hit by a firecracker launched by the opposition's fans; the match was abandoned in the 51st minute when the score was still at 0–0, and replayed 15 days later. He eventually helped his team to the national championship, adding the domestic cup. Kaká returned to Portugal in its top tier in the 2015 off-season, joining newly promoted

C.D. Tondela Clube Desportivo de Tondela () is a Portuguese professional football club that plays in Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Tondela, located in Viseu District, and play in the Estádio João Cardoso ...

Club statistics

Honours

Omonia *

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

: 2009–10 Braga *

runner-up: 2010–11 APOEL *Cypriot First Division: 2013–14, 2014–15 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

: 2013–14, 2014–15

References

External links

APOEL official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaka 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Pernambuco Brazilian footballers Association football defenders União Bandeirante Futebol Clube players Associação Desportiva São Caetano players Boa Esporte Clube players Luverdense Esporte Clube players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players S.C. Braga players C.D. Tondela players Varzim S.C. players Anadia F.C. players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Hertha BSC players Cypriot First Division players AC Omonia players APOEL FC players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Fehérvár FC players La Liga players Segunda División players Deportivo de La Coruña players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Hungary Expatriate footballers in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain