“Kaká” Izecson dos Santos Leite
Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, commonly known as Kaká (Portuguese: or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Orlando City in Major League Soccer and the Brazil national team. Kaká made his professional debut at age 18 at São Paulo FC in 2001. In 2003, he joined Italian club Milan for a fee of €8.5 million, after being named to the Bola de Ouro as the best player in the 2002 Campeonato Brasileiro. While at Milan, Kaká won a Serie A title and was named the Serie A Footballer of the Year two times. In the 2004–05 season, the squad reached the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, where they lost to Liverpool on penalty shoot-outs, and Kaká was the top assist provider of the tournament, being named the UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year. Two years later, he led Milan to win the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League, being the tournament’s top scorer. After the season, he won the FIFA World Player of the Year, the Ballon d’Or, the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year and the IFFHS World’s Best Playmaker awards. After his success with Milan, Kaká joined Real Madrid for a transfer fee of €67 million. At the time, this was the second highest transfer fee (in euros) ever, behind only the €77.5 million (150 billion lire) fee for Zinedine Zidane. However, in the same window Real Madrid broke the world record by signing Cristiano Ronaldo. After four seasons in Spain, he returned to Milan for a season in 2013, scoring his 100th goal for the club. At the end of the 2013–14 season, he joined MLS expansion club Orlando City, but initially returned to his former Brazilian club São Paulo FC on loan. In 2015, he scored on his MLS debut for Orlando City; he was later included in the roster for the 2015 MLS All-Star Game, where he was named Most Valuable Player. At international level, Kaká made his debut for the Brazil national team in 2002, and was selected for their victorious World Cup squad that year, as well as the 2006 and 2010 tournaments, leading the tournament in assists in the latter. He was also a member of Brazil’s 2005 and 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup-winning squads, winning the Golden Ball Award in the 2009 edition, as the tournament’s best player. Kaká is widely considered one of the best players of his generation. He was nominated three times to both the FIFPro World XI and the UEFA Team of the Year. In 2010, he was named to the A.C. Milan Hall of Fame. In 2017, ESPN ranked Kaká eighteenth on its list of the world’s most famous athletes. He was the first sportsperson to amass 10 million followers on Twitter. In addition to his contributions on the pitch, Kaká is known for his humanitarian work. In 2004, by the time of his appointment, he became the youngest ambassador of the UN World Food Programme. For his contributions on and off the pitch, Kaká was named in the Time 100 list of the world’s most influential people in 2008 and 2009.
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This shirt was used by Kakà Izecson dos Santos Leite, better known as Kaka on September 29th 2004 during the game against Celtic F.C. The shirt was swapped after the game by Kaka with a Celtic’s player, whom we get the shirt from.
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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 in the Scudetto race. Milan also reached the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia that season. Kaká played a pivotal role in Milan’s Champions League campaign that season, helping them to reach the final against Liverpool, scoring two goals and providing five assists. Dubbed the “Miracle of Istanbul,” Milan led 3–0 at half time, before Liverpool staged a comeback, scoring three goals in six minutes, and eventually won the match 3–2 on penalties. A match widely regarded as one of the greatest finals in the competition’s history, Kaká was imperious in the first half; he first won the early free-kick which led to Paolo Maldini’s opening goal, later beginning the play that led to Hernán Crespo’s first goal and Milan’s second of the night, before executing a long curling pass that split open the Liverpool defence and rolled perfectly into the path of Crespo to score Milan’s third. Kaká was once again nominated for the Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year Awards, finishing ninth and eighth respectively, and he was named the 2005 UEFA Club Football Best Midfielder.
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Regarded as one of the best players of his generation, Kaká has been described on the FIFA website as having the “capacity to glide almost effortlessly past opponents, provide defence-splitting passes and score consistently from distance.” During his prime at Milan in the mid to late 2000s, and prior to the injuries he suffered at Real Madrid, which have affected him physically, he was a quick, strong, agile, highly skilful and creative team player with great pace, good feet, and excellent balance, capable of dribbling past defenders in one on one situations as well as during counterattacks. Kaká is also renowned for his vision and passing ability, enabling him to create chances for teammates. Having performed predominantly as a playmaking attacking midfielder throughout his career, he is known for being capable of scoring goals as well as creating and assisting them. A versatile player, he has been deployed in other attacking positions, performing as a winger on either flank, as a supporting forward, and on occasion as a striker, or even in a deeper role as a midfield playmaker.[205] In addition to these characteristics, Kaká also possesses a powerful and accurate shot from both inside and outside the penalty area, with both feet; he is also an accurate penalty taker.
“For two, maybe three seasons he was the best player in the world, there was nothing he couldn’t do” Ronaldinho
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The steady European interest in Kaká culminated in his signing with the European champions, Italian club A.C. 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. 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 in the Scudetto race. Milan also reached the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia that season. Kaká played a pivotal role in Milan’s Champions League campaign that season, helping them to reach the final against Liverpool, scoring two goals and providing five assists. Dubbed the “Miracle of Istanbul”, Milan led 3–0 at half time, before Liverpool staged a comeback, scoring three goals in six minutes, and eventually won the match 3–2 on penalties. A match widely regarded as one of the greatest finals in the competition’s history, Kaká was imperious in the first half; he first won the early free-kick which led to Paolo Maldini’s opening goal, began the play that led to Hernán Crespo’s first goal and Milan’s second of the night, then executed a long curling pass that split open the Liverpool defence and rolled directly into the path of Crespo to score Milan’s third. Kaká was once again nominated for the Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year Awards, finishing ninth and eighth respectively, and he was named the 2005 UEFA Club Football Best Midfielder.
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Kaká won the Champions League title when Milan defeated Liverpool 2–1 on 23 May 2007, avenging the previous loss on penalties two years before. 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.[40] 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. On 30 August, Kaká was named by UEFA as both the top forward of the 2006–07 Champions League season and UEFA Club Footballer of the Year, as well as being named as part of the UEFA Team of the Year for the second time. He once again finished as the second-best assist-provider of the Champions League, providing five, and was voted the 2007 IFFHS World’s Best Playmaker.on 5 October, he was named the 2006–07 FIFPro World Player of the Year, and was elected as part of the FIFPro World XI. On 2 December 2007, Kaká became the eighth Milan player to win the Ballon d’Or, as he finished with a decisive 444 votes, well ahead of runner-up Cristiano Ronaldo.
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In June 2014 Kaka joined future MLS franchise Orlando City as their first Designated Player. He stated that he had “always” wanted to play in the United States, and cited the Brazilian owner Flávio Augusto da Silva as a reason for signing. Until Orlando entered the league in 2015, Kaká was loaned to his first club São Paulo, which he called “really satisfying.” By signing for Orlando City, Kaká became the highest-paid player in MLS history, with a base salary of US$6.6 million per year, and with a guaranteed compensation of $7.2 million per year. Kaká made 75 league appearances in his three seasons with Orlando City team, scoring 24 goals and providing 22 assists. On December 17th 2017 Kaka announced his retirement, after turning down offers from former clubs São Paulo and Milan. He also expressed interest in working as a director, confirming that his former club Milan had offered him a role.
