Brazilian superstar Kaká has seen and done it all with a soccer ball. His name is very well known around the football world as much for all of his feats on the pitch - winning a World Cup, a UEFA Champions League title with AC Milan, the FIFA Ballon D’Or and FIFA World Footballer of the Year - as for the homonymic qualities in the four letters of his name.
Here are the top 5 things you probably don’t know about him:
Kaká’s real name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, but as is tradition with Brazilian players, he took on a single name. The native of Gama chose Kaká, a nickname he had as a child because his younger brother could not say Ricardo and referred to his older sibling as Kaká.
At the age of 18, he suffered a career-threatening and possibly paralysis-inducing spinal fracture as a result of a swimming pool accident while on vacation, diving into a shallow pool and hitting his head on the bottom. Remarkably, he made a full recovery. He attributes his recovery to God and donates one-tenth of his salary to his church back home in Brazil.
In April 2012, Kaká became the first sports personality to reach 10 million followers on Twitter. In March of this year, Kaká had the fifth highest social media rank in the world among athletes, behind fellow footballers Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, David Beckham and Neymar with 33 million Facebook fans.
Kaká is a devout evangelical Christian who was an active member of the São Paulo-based Rebirth in Christ Church. He became engrossed in religion at the age of 12 and rediscovered his astute faith following his injury. Following his triumphs at the 2002 World Cup, and Milan's 2004 Scudetto and 2007 Champions League titles, he removed his jersey to reveal an "I Belong to Jesus" T-shirt and openly engaged in prayer moments after the final whistles. He has also had that phrase and "God Is Faithful" stitched onto the tongues of his boots.
Kaká is also extremely well known for his humanitarian work. In 2004, he became the youngest ambassador of the UN World Food Program. For his contributions on and off the pitch, Kaká was named to the Time Magazine 100 list of the world's most influential people in 2008 and 2009.
Kaká is one of the most decorated players in the history of the sport. Take a look at some of his individual awards:
Awards
- Revista Placar Bola de Ouro : 2002
- Campeonato Brasileiro Bola de Prata: 2002
- CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI: 2003
- Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year: 2004, 2006, 2007
- Serie A Footballer of the Year: 2004, 2007
- UEFA Champions League Top Assist Provider: 2004-05, 2011-12
- UEFA Champions League Best Midfielder: 2005
- UEFA Champions League Bronze Top scorer: 2005–06
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2006, 2007, 2009
- FIFPro World XI: 2006, 2007, 2008
- Pallone d'Argento: 2006–07
- UEFA Champions League Top Scorer: 2006–07
- UEFA Champions League Best Forward: 2006–07
- UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2006–07
- FIFPro World Player of the Year: 2007
- Ballon d'Or: 2007
- FIFA World Player of the Year: 2007
- World Soccer Player of the Year: 2007
- IFFHS World's Best Playmaker: 2007
- IAAF Latin Sportsman of the Year: 2007
- Onze d'Or: 2007
- FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball: 2007
- Toyota Award: 2007
- Time 100: 2008, 2009
- Maracanã Hall of Fame: 2008
- Samba d'Or: 2008
- Marca Leyenda: 2009
- FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Ball: 2009
- FIFA Confederations Cup Best XI: 2009
- FIFA World Cup Top Assist Provider: 2010
