Kaká

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (; born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká () or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. In his prime at AC Milan, where he was known for his passing, goalscoring, and dribbling, 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 UEFA Champions League, and the Ballon d'Or.

In 2001, at age 18, Kaká made his professional debut at Brazilian club São Paulo. He later joined Italian club AC Milan 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 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 and was the tournament's top goalscorer. His performances saw him win the FIFA World Player of the Year, the 2007 Ballon d'Or, and the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. After six years with Milan, Kaká joined Real Madrid 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 expansion club Orlando City SC. 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 squad, which won the tournament that year. He also played in the 2006 World Cup, alongside other veterans like Ronaldo, Adriano, and Ronaldinho. He made his final World Cup appearance in 2010. He was also a member of Brazil's 2005 and 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup-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. Outside of football, Kaká is known for his humanitarian work, where he became the youngest ambassador of the UN World Food Programme in 2004. For his contributions on and off the pitch, Kaká was named by ''Time'' as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2008 and in 2009."Kaka profile"
. 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 of the Central-West Region of Brazil to Simone dos Santos, an elementary school teacher, and Bosco Izecson Pereira Leite, a civil engineer. 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 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, 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 tithed 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 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, in 2003 for a fee of reported €8.5 million, described in retrospect as "peanuts" by club owner Silvio Berlusconi. 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. His Serie A debut was in a 2–0 win over Ancona. 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'' and the UEFA Super Cup, whilst finishing as runner up in the Intercontinental Cup and the 2003 Supercoppa Italiana. Milan also reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, losing out to eventual winners Lazio, and were knocked out of the quarter-finals of the Champions League by Deportivo La Coruña. Due to his performances in his debut season, in 2004, Kaká was named Serie A Footballer of the Year, and was nominated for both the Ballon d'Or (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 and Clarence Seedorf defensively, as well as Massimo Ambrosini, allowing Kaká as the attacking midfielder and Rui Costa or Andrea Pirlo as the deep-lying playmaker 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 against Lazio. He scored seven goals in 36 domestic appearances as Milan finished runner-up