kaka

This name uses Portuguese naming customs. The first or maternal family name is Santos and the second or paternal family name is Leite.

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʁiˈkaɾdu iˈzɛksõw duˈsɐ̃tus ˈlejtʃi]; born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká, is a Brazilian football midfielder who currently plays for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and the Brazilian national team. Kaká started his footballing career at the age of eight, when he began playing for a local club. At the time, he also played tennis,and it was not until he moved on to São Paulo FC and signed his first professional contract with the club at the age of fifteen that he chose to focus on football.

In 2003 he joined Milan for a fee of €8.5 million. While at Milan, Kaká won the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards in 2007. After his success with Milan, Kaká joined Real Madrid for a world record fee of £56 million, smashing the previous record of Zidane, £49 million. Kaká's record was later broken by Cristiano Ronaldo when he joined Real Madrid for a fee of £80 million. 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.

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite was born in Brasília to Bosco Izecson Pereira Leite (a civil engineer) and Simone dos Santos (an elementary school teacher). He had a financially secure upbringing that allowed him to focus on both school and football at the same time. His younger brother Rodrigo (best known as Digão) and cousin Eduardo Delani are also professional footballers.

When he was seven, Kaká's family moved to São Paulo.His school had arranged him in a local youth club called "Alphaville," who qualified to the final in a local tournament.There he was discovered by hometown club São Paulo FC, who offered an assignment.
At the age of 18, Kaká suffered a career-threatening and possibly paralysis-inducing spinal fracture as a result of a swimming pool accident, but remarkably made a full recovery. He attributes his recovery to God and has since tithed his income to his church.

São Paulo

Kaká began his career with São Paulo at the age of eight. He signed a contract at fifteen and led the São Paulo youth squad to Copa de Juvenil glory. He made his senior side debut on 1 Feb 2001 and scored 12 goals in 27 appearances, in addition to leading São Paulo to its first and only Torneio Rio-São Paulo championship, in which he scored two goals in two minutes as a substitute against Botafogo in the final, which São Paulo won 2–1.

He scored 10 goals in 22 matches the following season, and by this time his performance was soon attracting attention from European clubs. Kaká made a total of 58 appearances for São Paulo, scoring 23 times.

Kaká married his childhood sweetheart Caroline Celico on 23 December 2005 at a Rebirth in Christ church in São Paulo.Their first child, Luca Celico Leite, was born in São Paulo on 10 June 2008.On 8 December 2010, Kaká announced Celico was pregnant with their second child, a daughter.She was born late at night on 23 April 2011 and named Isabella.