When Brazilian soccer star KAKÁ celebrates a goal he looks heavenwards. And you’d probably be right if you assumed he was praying. He thanked God and revealed a “I belong to Jesus” T-shirt after Brazil’s triumph in the 2002 World Cup final and again after he helped AC Milan win the Champions League final against Liverpool in 2007.
Now the 25-year-old who was judged the best player in the world in 2007 will be seen in action in South Africa during the Fifa Confederations Cup tournament next month.
Kaká - he was christened Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite - has been praying for years, especially when he was 18 and doctors doubted he’d walk again after a poolside accident. He also sought divine guidance earlier this year when Manchester City wanted to buy him for a world-record 100 million pounds. He decided to stay with AC Milan. “I prayed and decided to stay where I was happy and the people loved me,” he said at the time.
In the poolside incident he slipped, fell and broke his back so badly doctors thought it would end his dream of a professional soccer career. But he recovered completely.
“The doctors said I would be lucky to walk normally again,’’ he said. ‘’They were talking about luck; my family were talking about faith. I knew I’d been saved by God’s hand.”
The football magician whom Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos has called the complete modern player has been honoured in Africa in a special way. It’s said the true measure of fame in Africa is to have a hairstyle named after you in a barbershop advert.
From Lagos to Cape Town you’ll find The Oprah, The Denzel and The Obama. This year The Kaká appeared, thanks to an idea by Adidas to publicise the Confed Cup with artworks featuring various stars.
He has his younger brother, Rodrigo - also a professional soccer player - to thank for his name. In Brazil Kaká is an abbreviated version of Ricardo but instead it started because Rodrigo couldn’t pronounce Ricardo when he was young.
- Read the full article on Kaká in the latest issue of YOU.
