Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (; born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká () or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former 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 lea ...
who played as an
attacking midfielder
In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...
. In his prime at
AC Milan
(), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...
, where he was known for his passing, goalscoring, and
dribbling
In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score.
As ...
, Kaká was widely regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation. He is also regarded as one of the greatest midfielders in the history of the sport.
With success for both club and country, he is one of the nine players to win the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
, the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
, and the
Ballon d'Or
The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual association football, football award presented by French magazine ''France Football'' since 1956 Ballon d'Or, 1956 to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season.
Conceived ...
.
In 2001, at age 18, Kaká made his professional debut at Brazilian club
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
. He later joined
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
club
AC Milan
(), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...
in 2003. Kaká helped Milan win the Serie A title in his first season. Milan finished runner-up in the
2004–05 UEFA Champions League
The 2004–05 UEFA Champions League was the 50th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the 13th since it was rebranded as the UEFA Champions League in 1992. The competition was won by Liverpool, who beat Milan on penalt ...
with Kaká being the top assist provider of the tournament and being named the
UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year. He led Milan to win the
2006–07 UEFA Champions League
The 2006–07 UEFA Champions League was the 15th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded from the European Cup, and the 52nd season overall. The final was contested by Milan ...
and was the tournament's top goalscorer. His performances saw him win the
FIFA World Player of the Year
The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representative ...
, the
2007 Ballon d'Or
7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube.
As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has symbolic associations in religion, mythology, supers ...
, and the
UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. After six years with Milan, Kaká joined
Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
in 2009 for a transfer fee of €67 million,
which was the second
highest transfer fee at the time. However, his four seasons in Madrid were plagued with injuries, which saw his pace decline. He returned to AC Milan for a single season in 2013, prior to joining
MLS
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...
expansion club
Orlando City SC
Orlando City Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Orlando, Florida. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Owned by Zygi, Leonard, and Mark Wilf, it is the sister club of ...
. He initially went on loan to his former club São Paulo before returning to Orlando in 2015 and retiring from professional football in 2017.
Kaká made his debut for
Brazil's national football team in 2002 and was selected for the
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
squad, which won the tournament that year. He also played in the
2006 World Cup, alongside other veterans like
Ronaldo,
Adriano, and
Ronaldinho
Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or left winger. Widely reg ...
. He made his final World Cup appearance in
2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
. He was also a member of Brazil's
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
and
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
FIFA Confederations Cup
The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBO ...
-winning squads, winning the
Golden Ball in 2009 as the tournament's best player.
Between 2006 and 2009, he was named in both the
FIFA World XI and the
UEFA Team of the Year three times. In 2010, he was named in the AC Milan Hall of Fame.
One of the world's most famous athletes during his playing career, Kaká was the first sportsperson to amass 10 million followers on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
.
Outside of football, Kaká is known for his humanitarian work, where he became the youngest ambassador of the UN
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals. Founded in 1961 ...
in 2004.
For his contributions on and off the pitch, Kaká was named by ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' as one of the
world's 100 most influential people in 2008 and in 2009.
["Kaka profile"](_blank)
. Goal.com. Retrieved 28 June 2014
Early life
Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite was born on 22 April, 1982 in
Gama in the
Federal District
A federal district is a specific administrative division in one of various federations. These districts may be under the direct jurisdiction of a federation's national government, as in the case of federal territory (e.g., India, Malaysia), or the ...
of the
Central-West Region of
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
to Simone dos Santos, an elementary school
teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...
, and Bosco Izecson Pereira Leite, a
civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
. His family was financially secure, which allowed him to focus on school and football at the same time.
His younger brother
Digão and cousin
Eduardo Delani are also professional footballers. Digão called him "Caca" due to his inability to pronounce "Ricardo" when they were young; it eventually evolved into ''Kaká.''
The word has no specific
Portuguese translation.
When he was seven, Kaká's family moved to
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
in the
homonymous state. His school had arranged him in a local youth club called ''"Alphaville",'' who qualified to the final in a local tournament.
There, he was discovered by hometown club
São Paulo FC
São Paulo Futebol Clube () is a professional Association football, football club in the Morumbi, São Paulo, Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil. It plays in Campeonato Paulista, São Paulo (state), São Paulo's premier State football lea ...
, who offered him a place in the youth academy.
At the age of 18, Kaká suffered a career-threatening spinal fracture as a result of a swimming pool accident,
but made a full recovery. He attributes his recovery to God and has since
tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...
d his income to his church.
Club career
São Paulo
Kaká began his career with São Paulo at the age of eight.
He signed a contract at 15 and led the São Paulo youth squad to ''Copa de Juvenil'' glory. He made his senior side debut on 1 February 2001 and scored 12 goals in 27 appearances, in addition to leading São Paulo to its first and only
Torneio Rio-São Paulo championship, in which he scored two goals in two minutes as a substitute against
Botafogo
Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...
in the final, which São Paulo won 2–1.
He scored ten goals in 22 matches the following season, and by this time, his performance was soon attracting attention from European clubs. Kaká made a total of 58 appearances for São Paulo, scoring 23 times.
AC Milan

The steady European interest in Kaká culminated in his signing with the
European champions, Italian club
AC Milan
(), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...
, in 2003 for a fee of reported €8.5 million, described in retrospect as "peanuts" by club owner
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...
. Within a month, he cracked the starting lineup, replacing
Rui Costa in the attacking midfield playmaking position, behind strikers
Jon Dahl Tomasson,
Filippo Inzaghi and
Andriy Shevchenko
Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko (, ; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian former Manager (association football), football manager and Football player, player. Shevchenko is considered one of the greatest Striker (association football), strik ...
. His
Serie A
The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...
debut was in a 2–0 win over
Ancona
Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...
. He scored ten goals in 30 appearances that season, also providing several important assists, such as the cross which led to Shevchenko's title-deciding headed goal, as Milan won the ''
Scudetto
The ''scudetto'' (; Italian for 'little shield') is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in the previous ...
'' and the
UEFA Super Cup
The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...
, whilst finishing as runner up in the
Intercontinental Cup and the
2003 Supercoppa Italiana. Milan also reached the semi-finals of the
Coppa Italia
Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since.
Juventus is the competition's most successf ...
, losing out to eventual winners
Lazio
Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...
, and were knocked out of the quarter-finals of the
Champions League by
Deportivo La Coruña
''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to:
* Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club
* Déportivo, a French rock band
* Deportivo (Mexicable)
Mexicable is an aerial lift line in Ecatepec de ...
. Due to his performances in his debut season, in 2004, Kaká was named
Serie A Footballer of the Year
The AIC Serie A Footballer of the Year () is a yearly award organized by the Italian Footballers' Association (AIC) given to the Association football, footballer who has been considered to have performed the best over the previous Serie A seas ...
, and was nominated for both the
Ballon d'Or
The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual association football, football award presented by French magazine ''France Football'' since 1956 Ballon d'Or, 1956 to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season.
Conceived ...
(finishing 15th) and the
2004 FIFA World Player of the Year (finishing 10th).
Kaká was a part of the five-man midfield in the
2004–05 season, usually playing in a withdrawn role behind striker Andriy Shevchenko. He was supported by
Gennaro Gattuso
Gennaro Ivan Gattuso (; born 9 January 1978) is an Italians, Italian professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is currently the Manager (association football), head coach of the Italy na ...
and
Clarence Seedorf
Clarence Clyde Seedorf (; born 1 April 1976) is a Dutch former professional Association football, football manager and player. He is regarded by many as one of the greatest midfielders of all time. He is currently working primarily remotely as ...
defensively, as well as
Massimo Ambrosini
Massimo Ambrosini (; born 29 May 1977) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who mainly played as a Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder. At club level, he is mostly known for his successful time at ...
, allowing Kaká as the
attacking midfielder
In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...
and Rui Costa or
Andrea Pirlo
Andrea Pirlo (; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian association football, football manager (association football), manager and former professional player. Considered one of the greatest Midfielder (association football)#Deep-lying playmaker, mi ...
as the deep-lying
playmaker
In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...
to be in charge of creating Milan's goalscoring chances, forming a formidable midfield unit in both Italy and Europe. Milan began the season by winning the
Supercoppa Italiana
The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...
against Lazio. He scored seven goals in 36 domestic appearances as Milan finished