RICARDO IZECSON DOS SANTOS LEITE

KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE
with Remi Akano
E-mail: remiakanosr@believeandrepent.com


No, the headline is not the “other tongue” for Merry Christmas. It is actually Portuguese and it is the name of a certain young sportsman. But, yes, it does represent the spirit of the season and the victory that comes from being a true, unabashed follower of the one who, as the cliché goes, is the reason for the season.

As every lover of the beautiful game known to the rest of the world as football, but which the Americans like to call soccer, knows, Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, 25, more widely known and called as Kaka, was on Monday named FIFA World Football Player of the Year 2007. The AC Milan and Brazil star beat two worthy competitors, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, to the prestigious trophy at the annual FIFA World Gala which held at the Zurich Opera House in Switzerland.

He was the choice of 1,047 national coaches and captains who were polled for the award. Messi was first runner up with 504 votes while Ronaldo scored 426 votes to come third. Kaka's latest crown climaxes for him a fantastic year during which he led his club, AC Milan, to European Champions League victory this season, scoring 10 goals in the process and barely two weeks earlier on December 2, bagged the European Player of the Year title.

Kaka, though only 25, did not arrive on the world football stage as an overnight wonder. According to Wikipedia, he began his club career with Sao Paolo Football Club at the tender age of eight and signed his first playing contract with that Club’s youth squad seven years later. He graduated to the legendary club’s senior team in January 2001.
His first and to date only major career move came two years later when “AC Milan, fresh from winning the 2003 Champions League, brought him aboard in 2003 for $8.5 million…Kaká was a part of the five-man midfield in the 2004-05 season, usually playing in a withdrawn role behind striker Andriy Shevchenko. He scored 7 goals in 36 domestic appearances as Milan finished runner-up to Juventus. Despite Milan losing the 2004-05 Champions League final to Liverpool F.C. on penalties, he was nonetheless voted the best midfielder of the tournament, and also finished ninth, with 19 votes, in the running for the 2005 Player of the year.”
Wikipedia records that,the football world was began to take notice of a superstar in the making when in the 2005-06 season Kaká score his first hat-tricks in domestic and European competitions respectively.
Kaká became the focal point of Milan's attack in the 2006-7 following Shevchenko's departure to Chelsea FC. He began to alternate between the midfield and striker positions finishing the season as the top scorer with ten goals, which helped to steer AC Milan back to European success. One of them helped the Milan beat Scottish team Celtic FC 1-0 after extra time in the quarterfinals on a 1-0 aggregate, and three others proved fatal for Manchester United in the semi-finals in spite of Milan’s earlier loss of the first leg. Following that convincing 3-0 second-leg defeat at the San Siro on May 2 that knocked out the English champions, Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson confessed that Kaka was one of the two best players in the world, naming this own ward, Cristiano Ronaldo as the other. Sir Alex was however only echoing what was already being widely accepted! In April, a panel of experts set up by Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport proclaimed Kaká as the world's best footballer. Shevchenko also included his endorsement, while suggesting that Kaká deserved to win the FIFA top trophy.
Kaká won the Champions League title he was so outstanding that for the first time when Milan defeated Liverpool F.C. 2-1 in Athens on May 23, 2007. Though he went scoreless, his performance was so stellar throughout the competition that he was voted the Vodafone Fans' Player of the Season in a poll of over 100,000 UEFA.com visitors. In June 2007, German football publication Kicker named him the world's best player, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho finishing second and third, respectively, while he was also given this honour by UK publication The Times. On August 30, he was named by UEFA as both the top forward of the 2006-07 season and Club Footballer of the Year.
He played his 200th career match with Milan in a 1-1 home draw with Calcio Catania on September 30, 2007, and on October 5, he was named the 2006-07 FIFPro World Player of the Year.
On December 2, 2007, Kaká was officially announced as the European Footballer of the Year, becoming the eighth Milan player in history to receive the honor. He finished with a decisive 444 votes, far ahead of runner-up Cristiano Ronaldo.
But this piece is not about Kaka’s many victories. This piece about the source of those victories! This is about a young man’s recognition of who is source and sustainer is! It is about an athlete sold out to Jesus Christ!
Receiving the European Player of the year trophy in Paris, France on December 2, he was quoted as saying: “It was an exceptional year and this crowns an extraordinary 2007...I want to thank God who allowed me to be here today. I thank my wife, my parents and Milan, the team that allowed me to win. I also thank my teammates, both at Milan and Brazil, and all of the fans.”
If you thought that was the typical half-hearted platitude of the average athlete, listen to him quoting from Ephesians 3:20 after the great Pele handed him the World Player of the Year trophy in Zurich on Monday: . "It's really special for me - it was a dream for me just to play for Sao Paulo and one game for Brazil…But the Bible says God can give you more than you even ask for and that is what has happened in my life. I had always thought about winning this award, but there are always doubts until it is actually confirmed. It is not just this award but the whole year that has been very nice. Winning the Champions League and everything that has happened, it's just been wonderful."
And if you still think that is a skin-deep affair, recall the following:
• Most memorably he, along with some of his team mates, removed his jersey to reveal to a worldwide television audience, an "I Belong to Jesus" T-shirt after Brazil's defeat of Germany in the 2002 World Cup final;
• He sported the same shirt during Milan's 2004 league celebration;
• During the postmatch celebration following Brazil's 4-1 win over Argentina in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup final, he and several of his teammates, among them backup keeper Gomes and defender Lúcio, wore T-shirts with "Jesus Loves You" printed on them in various languages
• In addition to the’ I Belong to Jesus’ T-shirt, he openly engaged in prayer moments after the final whistle of Milan's 2007 Champions League triumph.
Kaka, reports say has the phrases “I belong to Jesus” and "God Is Faithful," stitched onto the tongues of his boots. He is a member of the Brazil-based organization Athletes of Christ. All of which explains why his goal celebration consists of him pointing to the sky as a gesture of thanks to God. This wonderful Christian role model says his favourite music is gospel music; his favourite book is the Bible and he is proud that he was a virgin when he married.
All of which explains why football icon, Pele said of him: "Kaka …is also a great example off the pitch. He's the complete player." That is also why I joyfully present his story to you, dear reader, with my wishes that your life and mine be more Christ-like as we celebrate the birth of the Saviour. Merry Christmas.
By the way, please join me in wishing Treasure Olufunmi Yinyinola Akano, my wife of 27 years, God’s continued abundant blessings as she celebrates her birthday today. Thank you.

First published in a Nigerian Daily, the Sunday Independent, published in Lagos Nigeria.