He's worshipped as a football god and has been offered more than $210 million to move to English club Manchester City. But Kaka's own faith has been placed in Milan and Jesus, as Oliver Brown reports.
When it comes to religious dedication to his football, Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, or Kaka as he is better known, has been there, done it and bought the T-shirt. Perhaps the abiding image of the Champions League final in 2007 was of the Brazilian, having just inspired AC Milan to victory over Liverpool, stripping down to a vest with the message "I belong to Jesus" emblazoned across his chest.
Such devotion has been closely intertwined with Kaka's extraordinary playing career from the outset.
Just as he began refining his talents on the pitch as a child from a middle-class family in Brasilia so he learned, at 12, "that it is faith that decides whether something will happen or not".
The greatest test of that faith came six years later, when Kaka slipped on a swimming pool slide and broke a vertebra.
"The doctors said that I was lucky to be able to walk normally," he said. "They were talking about luck, and my family was talking about God. We knew that it was His hand that had saved me."
Kaka's background in Brasilia was distinguished by its middle-class characteristics. He was as far removed as could be conceived from his compatriot Ronaldo, who turned down the chance of a career at Flamengo, the biggest team in Rio de Janeiro.
Not only was Kaka driven to the training ground of Sao Paulo, his first club, he was a paid-up member of their sports and leisure centre.
The swimming-pool incident proved no barrier to him, and the recovery was rapid. Kaka made his debut for Sao Paulo the following year, scoring 22 goals in 49 games to attract the attention of the major European clubs.
Milan were his chief suitors and got their man, the playmaker moving to Italy in 2003 for €8.5 million.
Owner Silvio Berlusconi then described the fee as "peanuts", and he has subsequently been proved right, with Kaka breaking into the first team within a month and keeping his place ever since. At a stroke he defied the trend of raw Brazilian prodigies taking their time to adapt to the pace of the European game.
In his first season, Milan won the Serie A title, and it was at that time that Kaka first invested in his "I belong to Jesus" vest, and had the words "God is faithful" stitched on the tongues of his boots. Just in case there was any remaining doubt, his evangelical Christian faith was underlined in 2006 by his strong reaction against Middle Eastern reports that he had converted to Islam.
A major factor in Kaka's rumoured rejection of the lucrative Manchester City's overtures could be his studied aversion to materialistic concerns. He has claimed not to covet the standard footballer's distractions of fast cars and fast women, despite earning a wage believed to be about £145,000 ($290,000) a week.
As he put it once: "My family and my belief in God and Jesus are the things which determine my life. I do want to live my life in the right way and live my life close to God."
Indeed, such piety informs every aspect of his life. He identifies the Bible as his favourite book and gospel as his music of choice. He has also not been shy of boasting about his virginity until marrying in December 2005; his wife, Caroline Celico, is the daughter of the woman who represents Dior in Brazil.
Kaka's reputation as perhaps the most influential playmaker in the game has been sealed at Milan: he was the outstanding midfielder in the Champions League in 2005 even though the Italians suffered their wrenching defeat on penalties to Liverpool in the final in Istanbul.
He has regularly invited playing comparisons with Diego Maradona, and has seldom been far from the centre of transfer conjecture, as in 2006 when Real Madrid inquired about the possibility of signing him.
He has been an ever-present in the Brazil national team since their World Cup win in 2002, continuing to uphold his philosophy that, "We can win by being on Jesus's side."
When it comes to religious dedication to his football, Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, or Kaka as he is better known, has been there, done it and bought the T-shirt. Perhaps the abiding image of the Champions League final in 2007 was of the Brazilian, having just inspired AC Milan to victory over Liverpool, stripping down to a vest with the message "I belong to Jesus" emblazoned across his chest.
Such devotion has been closely intertwined with Kaka's extraordinary playing career from the outset.
Just as he began refining his talents on the pitch as a child from a middle-class family in Brasilia so he learned, at 12, "that it is faith that decides whether something will happen or not".
The greatest test of that faith came six years later, when Kaka slipped on a swimming pool slide and broke a vertebra.
"The doctors said that I was lucky to be able to walk normally," he said. "They were talking about luck, and my family was talking about God. We knew that it was His hand that had saved me."
Kaka's background in Brasilia was distinguished by its middle-class characteristics. He was as far removed as could be conceived from his compatriot Ronaldo, who turned down the chance of a career at Flamengo, the biggest team in Rio de Janeiro.
Not only was Kaka driven to the training ground of Sao Paulo, his first club, he was a paid-up member of their sports and leisure centre.
The swimming-pool incident proved no barrier to him, and the recovery was rapid. Kaka made his debut for Sao Paulo the following year, scoring 22 goals in 49 games to attract the attention of the major European clubs.
Milan were his chief suitors and got their man, the playmaker moving to Italy in 2003 for €8.5 million.
Owner Silvio Berlusconi then described the fee as "peanuts", and he has subsequently been proved right, with Kaka breaking into the first team within a month and keeping his place ever since. At a stroke he defied the trend of raw Brazilian prodigies taking their time to adapt to the pace of the European game.
In his first season, Milan won the Serie A title, and it was at that time that Kaka first invested in his "I belong to Jesus" vest, and had the words "God is faithful" stitched on the tongues of his boots. Just in case there was any remaining doubt, his evangelical Christian faith was underlined in 2006 by his strong reaction against Middle Eastern reports that he had converted to Islam.
A major factor in Kaka's rumoured rejection of the lucrative Manchester City's overtures could be his studied aversion to materialistic concerns. He has claimed not to covet the standard footballer's distractions of fast cars and fast women, despite earning a wage believed to be about £145,000 ($290,000) a week.
As he put it once: "My family and my belief in God and Jesus are the things which determine my life. I do want to live my life in the right way and live my life close to God."
Indeed, such piety informs every aspect of his life. He identifies the Bible as his favourite book and gospel as his music of choice. He has also not been shy of boasting about his virginity until marrying in December 2005; his wife, Caroline Celico, is the daughter of the woman who represents Dior in Brazil.
Kaka's reputation as perhaps the most influential playmaker in the game has been sealed at Milan: he was the outstanding midfielder in the Champions League in 2005 even though the Italians suffered their wrenching defeat on penalties to Liverpool in the final in Istanbul.
He has regularly invited playing comparisons with Diego Maradona, and has seldom been far from the centre of transfer conjecture, as in 2006 when Real Madrid inquired about the possibility of signing him.
He has been an ever-present in the Brazil national team since their World Cup win in 2002, continuing to uphold his philosophy that, "We can win by being on Jesus's side."
