Claudiano Bezerra da Silva (born 16 May 1981), known as 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 a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Kaká was born in

São José do Belmonte São José do Belmonte is a city and Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Federative units of Brazil, state of Pernambuco, Brazil. The population in 2020, according with Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE was 34,021 ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

. Until 2006 he was on contract to

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

, 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 (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

(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 and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

for

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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 German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

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

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

-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 (; ''Athlitikós Sýllogos Omónoia Lefkosías''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia (also Romanization of Greek, transliterated as Omonoia), is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional multi-sport club, esta ...

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 In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

move, returned to Portugal and joined S.C. Braga, yet on loan. With the

Minho Minho or Miño may refer to: People * Miño (surname) * Choi Min-ho, South Korean singer and actor known mononymously as Minho Places * Minho (river) or Miño, in Portugal and Spain Jamaica * Rio Minho, a river Portugal * Minho Province ...

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 (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

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

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), 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 association footbal ...

(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 (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 ...

contenders

APOEL FC APOEL FC (; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") is a Cypriot professio ...

. 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 (; ') 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. Designed by Portugue ...

''. 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) Videoton, officially VIDEOTON HOLDING Ltd., is a privately owned company group based out of Székesfehérvár, Hungary, and specializing in contract manufacturing, mainly electronics manufacturing servic ...

. In late January of the following year he moved to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

, loaned to

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

, 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 (, ''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 Division and has won the championship tit ...

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

Alki Larnaca FC Alki Larnaca (, ''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 2014 due to financial issues. The club's colours were blue and red. They reached th ...

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

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...

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.

Club statistics

Honours

Omonia *

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

: 2009–10 Braga *

runner-up:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

APOEL *Cypriot First Division: 2013–14, 2014–15 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

: 2013–14, 2014–15

References

External links

APOEL official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaka 1981 births Living people Footballers from Pernambuco Brazilian men's footballers Men's 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 Académica de Coimbra (football) 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 men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Expatriate men's 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 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen