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Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (Kaka) was born on 22nd of April 1982 to financially secure family in Brasília.
Kaka's first step in football was when he was discovered by Brazilian club Sao Paulo FC while playing in the youth team Alphaville. Ricardo kaka continued to grow in skill as he was reaching 18 years of age, yet he suffered from a career threatening swimming-pool accident but his will and professionalism enabled him to make remarkable full recovery. Kaka being a spiritual individual, he attributed his recovery to god.
His professional football career at Sao Paulo FC made a lot of people turn their heads to a great talent in the making. Kaka made a wonderful debut on January 2001 where he came as a substitute and scored 2 goals in 2 minutes, helping his team to win their only Torneio Rio-São Paulo championship. Kaka made 22 appearances in the next season, scoring 10 goals. Soon enough, kaka was attracting attention for major European Football clubs, that being a sign for the end of his Sao Paulo career. Kaka made 58 caps for Sao Paulo scoring 23 times.
The wise eyes at Italian football club AC Milan saw the raw talent of Ricardo which propelled them to make an offer of €8.5 million in 2003 which was accepted by Sao Paulo FC. It only took Kaka a month to crack his way to the first team line up at milan making his first appearance on the 2-0 win against Ancona in the Serie A. Kaka made 30 caps scoring 10 goals helping his team win Scudetto and the UEFA Super Cup. Next season for Kaka was less impressive as Milan finished second in Scudetto and losing the Final of the Champions League to Liverpool, but Kaka was voted as the best midfielder in the Champions League none the less. Kaka made 36 appearances in the 2004/2005 season.
Shevchenko's departure to Chelsea allowed Kaka to step into more pivotal role at the Milan offense, alternating between the midfield and being a striker up front in the 2006/07 season. Kaka finished that season being the top scorer at the UEFA Champions League with 10 goals. Kaka won his first Champions League as he provided the two assists in the match which Milan won against Liverpool in the final.Kaka 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 Club Footballer of the Year. Kaka made his 200 appearance for Milan mean while winning the prestigious Ballon D'or with 444 votes way ahead of second placed Cristiano Ronaldo. Ricardo Kaka signed an extension of his contract with Milan until 2013 with Milan on February 29, 2008. Having such a wonderful career so far made The Times magazine to name Kaká in the Time 100, a list of the world's 100 most influential people.
Januaray 13th 2009 saw Man City making a £100 million offer for Ricardo Kaka. The player said that he doesn't want to leave his current team but if Milan wanted to sell him he will consider the offer. Milan fans protested the offer, pressuring the Milan administration to end negotiations with the English club. Yet at the end of that season, Ricardo Kaka would leave AC Milan .. joining another giant in football.
Newly elected Real Madrid president Mr. Florentino Perez was reportedly ready to make a €68 Million offer to sign Kaka from Milan. For the first time there was no denying of the offer and it was attributed later to the declining financial position of Ac Milan. Barlesconi there after was quoted as saying "We cannot allow [AC Milan] to lose £70m [...] The reasons behind Kaká's departure would be economic."
On June 8, Kaka signed a 6 years contract with Real Madrid for a bid believed to reach the €67.2 million mark thus being the first player to be bought by Perez in his second term as Real Madrid president. Kaka cited his move as to help Milan improve their financial position, saying Real Madrid was the only club where would have moved.
His International Career is nothing less impressive. Kaka was called up for the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship but they were knocked out after losing to Ghana in the the quarterfinal. Kaka made his debut against Bolivia in the friendly which Brazil won 2-0. Ricrdo was part of the 2002 World Cup winning team but he only played 25 minutes in the first round against Costa Rica. In 2003, Kaka was made captain for the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament. Brazil finished runner-ups as they lost to Mexico in the final. Kaka Scored 3 goals in the tournament
In 2005 , Kaka participated with his national team in 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, playing in all 5 games, winning the championship final against Argentina. Kaka scored 1 goal in the 4-1 win in the final .
the 2006 World cup saw kaka failing to keep up with the momentum of the tournament, only scoring one goal. Brazil was knocked out of the World cup after losing to France in the quarterfinal.
Kaka attributed his absence to play in the 2007 Copa América to his exhaustive schedule. He later returned to play for Brazil against Algeria in a friendly match on August 22, 2007
In 2009, Kaka lead his team to to win the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, scoring 2 goals in one match against Egypt and playing in the 3-2 win against the US in the final.
It is worth noting that when ever Kaka scores, Brazil never loses.
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