Ricardo Kaka’s real name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite. He is a popular football midfielder and plays for Brazil. Currently he is in a contract with Real Madrid F.C. and plays for the club. Popularly known as Kaka, he was born on 22nd April 1982. He began his career at a very young age of eight and used to play for a local club.

During his childhood, he used to spend a lot of time in playing soccer and tennis. He excelled in both the sports. However, his love for football became more serious when he shifted to São Paulo. It was this place, where Kaka decided to purse football as a career and signed his first professional contract with a local club. At this point of time, he was only fifteen years old. Kaka’s first big break came when São Paulo FC spotted Kaka while he was playing for his local club “Alphaville” in a tournament organized by local bodies.

Kaka comes from a very influential and financially secure family. This allowed Kaka to concentrate on football in his childhood and teenage. He has a younger brother who is also a professional footballer. His name is Rodrigo.

Kaka met with a tragic accident and was paralyzed after an accident in the swimming pool. This career threatening event almost ruined Kaka’s chances of playing football again. However, he soon made a full recovery. After that event, Kaka became more religious and also started actively getting involved in humanitarian work.

The year 2003 proved to be a big year for Kaka. He was signed for AC Milan for a whopping sum of 8.5 million Euros. According to the bosses of AC Milan, he was well worth that money. Kaka, during his starting season at AC Milan scored 10 goals in his 30 appearances. In that very season Milan won the prestigious UEFA Super Cup and Scudetto.

In the 2004-05 seasons, Kaka was an important midfielder in AC Milan’s lineup. Even though AC Milan lost the Champions League in the finals, Kaka was adjudged as the best midfielder of the tournament. Because of his outstanding achievement in the field of football, Kaka featured in famous TIME magazine, TIME 100, which contains the list of most influential people around the world. In June 2009, Real Madrid made a bid for Kaka for a huge sum of 68.5 million Euros.

In 2006, Kaka participated in his first world cup. His first and only goal came in the opening match again Croatia and thus, helped Brazil in beating Croatia 1-0. However, he was unable to perform consistently as a result of which Brazil lost to France in the semi-final and was eliminated.

On personal front, Kaka is a firm believer of God. His favorite book is Bible and he carries a copy of it wherever he goes. He is also working with United Nations to fight against hunger and poverty. Kaka is married to his long time girlfriend Caroline Celico. He also has a child named Luca Celico Leite.