Kaká, real name Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, (born April 22, 1982 in Brasília) is a Brazilian football (soccer) player who currently plays for A.C. Milan in the Italian Serie A. He wears the number 22 shirt for the club. He got his nickname "Kaká" because his little brother Rodrigo could not pronounce the word Ricardo when they were young. Rodrigo called his older brother "Caca" which Ricardo later changed to "Kaká". He made his debut at São Paulo FC in 2001 while he was only 19 years old. He scored 12 goals in 27 appearances and a further 10 goals in 22 appearances the following season. He attracted attention from European clubs and it was Milan who won the race to sign him. Kaká joined Milan in 2003 for an € 8.5m fee, his first appearance coming in a match at Ancona, which Milan won 2-0. In all, he scored 10 goals in 30 appearances that season, winning the Italian Serie A Championship and the European Super Cup. He was an integral part of the team in 2004/2005, usually playing in a withdrawn role behind striker Andriy Shevchenko in a five man midfield. He scored seven goals in 36 league appearances, winning the Italian Super Cup. However, the team failed domestically, losing the Serie A title to
Juventus, and losing the UEFA Champions League final to Liverpool on penalty kicks. Making his international debut in January 2002 against Bolivia, he was in Brazil's squad at the 2002 World Cup, but did not see much action as Brazil took the
World Championship. He played just 19 minutes of a first round match against Costa Rica. Later, he was also in action at the 2004 Copa América and the 2005 Confederations Cup, which were both won by
Brazil. The Confederation Cup final won by Brazil over Argentina saw him scoring for the Seleção. More recently, he has helped Brazil qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Kaká has matured as a player and is currently considered one of the best Brazilian footballers. His greatest goal is considered to be the one he scored against Fenerbahçe SK in AC Milan's first game in the 2005/2006 Champions League; won 3-1 by the Rossoneri. Kakà started his run from midfield and skipped past three tackles before entering the area and finishing with a low shot under the goal-keeper. Kaká finished in joint tenth place in voting for the 2004
FIFA World Player of the Year award, in the 2005 competition he finished two places higher. He was also voted the best midfielder in the UEFA Champions League tournament of 2004/2005, and ended up ninth on the 2005 Golden Ball (European
football player of the year) standing earning 19 votes. His younger brother Rodrigo (Rodrigo Izecson Dos Santos Leite - known as "Digão") followed in his footsteps and is currently on loan to Serie B team Rimini, after having spent some time in the AC Milan youth squad. When AC Milan won the Serie A title in 2004, "Ricky" (as he is called by his team-mates) sported a shirt with an "I Belong to Jesus" slogan. This is because Ricky risked his life by badly jumping off a diving-board which caused him the fracture of a vertebra. This could have meant the end of his
football career but he believes Jesus allowed him to recover and become the star footballer he now is. For this reason, every time he scores he points his fingers to the sky as a sign of thanks. Kaká's wife is 18 year old (as of 2005) Caroline Celico, who he married on 23 December 2005 at the evangelical Reborn in Christ Church in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a
wedding attended by fellow players from his national team, as well as other well known international players. Guests included Ronaldo, Adriano, Cafu, Brazilian national coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, Julio Baptista., and Dida They met in 2002, and started dating soon after. The relationship survived Kaká's 2003 move from Sao Paulo to play in Italy, while Caroline was still in school. After the planned honeymoon Kaká will rejoin AC Milan for a game in early January. It is likely that Caroline will stay in Brazil in the short-run, but the couple plan to live together in Italy very soon. The nickname Kaká is pronounced as it is spelled (in his native Portuguese). The accent would signify that the stress is on the second syllable. In Italian, the language of his current team, the phonetic equivalent is written Kakà, which is used for Italian television graphics. However, the player's shirt name is spelt KAKA' (with an apostrophe, rather than an accented 'A'), for both Brazil and Milan.
