Noughty Boys: Celebrating Kaka, one of the football greats of the 2000s
Noughty Boys: Celebrating Kaka, one of the football greats of the 2000s: As we begin our look back at iconic footballers from the 2000s, Carl Anka reflects on the elegance and brilliance of Kaka the final Ballon d’Or winner before Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo took over the era.
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It happened at an awards ceremony in Zurich, where Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite unknowingly summed up his own legacy.
Standing before football’s elite, the man known to the world as Kaka said: “This is a new era in football, a new cycle is starting. There were great players before, but now the new players are starting to make history.”
The date was December 2007, and Kaka had just been crowned the best footballer on the planet.
To this day, he remains the last Ballon d’Or winner not named Messi or Ronaldo. In hindsight, his words felt prophetic an acknowledgment that his career sat right on the edge of a rapidly changing football landscape.
Kaka was the final superstar of the era before round-the-clock football coverage and social media dominance, yet also one of the first modern attackers versatile, explosive, and capable of influencing every phase of play.
He belongs to an exclusive group of just eight players to have won the World Cup, Champions League and Ballon d’Or, joining the likes of Sir Bobby Charlton, Gerd Muller, Franz Beckenbauer, Paolo Rossi, Zinedine Zidane, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho a true marvel of football’s older age.
Remarkably, the story of Kaka almost never happened at all.
At just 18, he suffered a serious spinal fracture after hitting his head at the bottom of a swimming pool an injury that could have ended his career or even left him paralysed. Against all odds, he recovered within a week.
“The doctors said that I was lucky to be able to walk normally,” he later said. “They were talking about luck and my family was talking about God. We knew that it was His hand that had saved me.”
Whether it was fate, fortune, or faith, Kaka survived and soon began dazzling fans in Brazil with Sao Paulo.
But ‘Kaka’ means…
At 6ft 1in, Kaka combined size with astonishing acceleration and graceful movement. His ability to surge forward with the ball, glide past defenders, and pick out passes made him the blueprint for the modern number 10.
Before the 2002 World Cup, Brazilian legend Rivaldo was asked which young players were worth watching.
“There’s a young guy who plays for Sao Paulo called Kaka who plays just behind the front two. You don’t know anything about him in Europe, but watch him if he is chosen for the World Cup,” he replied.
The reporters hesitated. “But ‘kaka’ means ‘s***’ in Spanish,” they pointed out. (The nickname came from his younger brother Rodrigo struggling to pronounce “Ricardo”.)
Rivaldo simply smiled: “I know, but he’s definitely not. He has the qualities to be a big star.”
Kaka played only once as a substitute during the tournament, but still ended the summer as a World Cup winner.
A year later, European champions AC Milan signed him for €8.5m a fee owner Silvio Berlusconi dismissed as “peanuts”. He wasn’t wrong.
Kaka broke into the first team quickly, but it was the 2004-05 season where his potential truly exploded. Comparisons poured in: Carlo Ancelotti likened him to Michel Platini, Pele saw Johan Cruyff, and Socrates compared him to Zico.
Playing alongside Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo and Massimo Ambrosini, Kaka’s breakthrough year ended in heartbreak second in Serie A and defeat in Liverpool’s famous Champions League comeback in Istanbul.
Redemption arrived in 2006-07. At 24, Kaka inspired Milan to Champions League glory, defeating Liverpool in the final. Yet one moment defined his dominance: a stunning solo goal against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Collecting a long pass on the left, Kaka brushed past Darren Fletcher, flicked the ball over Gabriel Heinze, ghosted beyond Patrice Evra leaving the defenders crashing into each other before calmly finishing past Edwin van der Sar.
It was a goal of power, intelligence, balance and elegance. A goal only Kaka could score.
Milan went on to crush United 3-0 in the second leg, and nothing was stopping Kaka from claiming the Ballon d’Or. His potential had been fully realised.
Sadly, injuries soon followed. Knee and groin problems robbed him of the explosive burst that defined his game. By the time Europe’s biggest clubs circled, his peak was already fading.
Manchester City, newly wealthy after their Abu Dhabi takeover, tried to make him the face of their project. A £100m move was discussed, and for a brief moment it looked real.
Instead, Kaka appeared on his Milan balcony holding his red-and-black shirt aloft, thanking God and crediting his teammates for persuading him to stay. City signed Craig Bellamy instead. Kaka never played in the Premier League.
He eventually left Milan in 2009, joining Real Madrid for £56m briefly becoming the world’s most expensive player until Cristiano Ronaldo arrived days later for £80m.
At the Bernabeu, Kaka was never the focal point. By the time he returned to Milan in 2013, his days at the elite level were over. A final chapter with Orlando City, including a short loan to Sao Paulo, preceded his retirement in December 2017 the last great star before the Messi-Ronaldo era took full control.
Lost in a standard-definition haze
With Messi and Ronaldo rewriting history side by side, earlier greatness often feels blurred reduced to grainy highlights and nostalgic montages.
Kaka may have suffered most from that shift.
He arrived too late for myth-making through whispered stories and DVDs, yet too early for constant social media coverage and viral clips.
When asked which goal meant the most to him, he considered the Manchester United masterpiece and a thunderous strike against Empoli. But his favourite? A goal for Brazil against Argentina in 2006.
Starting near the halfway line, Kaka surged straight through the centre, outpacing Lionel Messi, dancing past two defenders, and calmly finishing after dragging the play wide.
A sensational goal against Brazil’s fiercest rivals in a World Cup year yet few remember it.
Why? Because it came in a friendly at the Emirates Stadium.
In many ways, that sums up Kaka perfectly. One of football’s greatest talents always magnificent, but somehow just beyond full view.
