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Iker Casillas

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Iker Casillas
Personal information
Full name Iker Casillas Fernández
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Real Madrid
Number 1
Youth career
1990–1998 Real Madrid
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–1999 Real Madrid C 26 (0)
1999 Real Madrid B 4 (0)
1999– Real Madrid 385 (0)
International career‡
1996 Spain U15 1 (0)
1996–1998 Spain U16 19 (0)
1997–1999 Spain U17 10 (0)
1999 Spain U18 4 (0)
1999 Spain U20 2 (0)
1999–2000 Spain U21 5 (0)
2000– Spain 111 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 25 June 2010
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 July 2010

Iker Casillas Fernández (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈiker kaˈsiʎas]; born 20 May 1981 in Móstoles, Madrid) is a World Cup-winning Spanish football goalkeeper who plays for the Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and serves as captain for both the Spanish national team and Real Madrid. As captain of the national side, he led a young Spanish team to their first European Championship in 44 years, his first senior international honour. In 2010, he led Spain to their first ever FIFA World Cup and won the Golden Glove for the tournament's best goalkeeper.

Since bursting onto the scene as a teenager, Casillas has been recognised as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe, illustrated by the many awards he has received. He was nominated for the European Footballer of the Year award twice, ranking fourth overall in 2008 and continuing to be the highest-ranked goalkeeper again in 2009.[2] At the end of 2009 he was voted into the UEFA Team of the Year for the third consecutive time. As of July 2010 Casillas is one of a very select group of players who have won all major club and national championship titles.

Early life

As a young child in the 1980s, Casillas once forgot to post his father’s football pools coupon on the weekend his dad had correctly predicted all 14 results; the family lost out on an estimated £1m.[3]

Real Madrid

Casillas is a product of Real Madrid's youth system, and started in the junior squad during the 1990–91 season. He was first called up to the first team on the 27 November 1997 at age 16 to face Rosenborg in UEFA Champions League 1997–98, but it wasn't until the 1998–99 season that he debuted in the senior side, substituting Bodo Illgner. By the next season, he relegated Illgner to the bench and became first choice.[4] In 2000, he became the youngest ever goalkeeper to play in a Champions League final when Real Madrid defeated Valencia 3-0, just four days after his nineteenth birthday.[5]

Casillas at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Casillas lost his place in the side to backup César Sánchez after a patch of bad form during the 2001–02 campaign, but redeemed himself when Sánchez suffered an injury in the last minutes of 2002 Champions League final match. Casillas came on and pulled off several brilliant saves to deny a rampant Bayer Leverkusen the Champions League crown. The Whites won 2-1 and Casillas has maintained the number 1 shirt ever since.

The 2007–08 season was a fruitful season for Casillas. He helped Real Madrid reclaim their 31st La Liga title and conceded only 32 goals in 36 games to claim the Zamora Trophy. On 14 February 2008, he and club captain Raúl were awarded new contract extensions. Casillas signed a contract extension that will keep him at the club until 2017, with an automatic extension if he plays 30 competitive matches during the final season of the contract and a buy-out clause of £113 million.[6][7] His performances earned him a spot in the UEFA Team of the Year for the second time.

In February 2009, Casillas equalled Paco Buyo's record of 454 matches played (for a goalkeeper) and has since surpassed it to become Real Madrid's most-capped goalkeeper of all time at only twenty-seven years old.[8] During the 2009 summer transfer window, some Spanish media reported that Manchester City had launched a record £129 million bid for the goalkeeper. However the club denied the allegations saying that no such offer had been made. Manchester United had been rumoured to have enquired about him, but no price was announced.[9] He had been linked with other Premier League clubs before[10] but Casillas himself stated that he "had no intention of leaving" his boyhood club.

During the 2009–10 season on 4 October in a game against Sevilla F.C., Casillas made an extraordinary save; he ran from one side of his goal to the other and denied Diego Perotti in a one-on-one close range encounter. After the match, he received praise from fellow Spanish goalkeepers and England goalkeeping legend Gordon Banks, who stated "Casillas' reflexes are incredible. If he continues to play this well he will become one of the best goalkeepers in the history of the game."[11]

International career

Casillas debuted for the national team in the U–17 level. At age 16, he was the youngest player in the Spanish squad that placed third at the 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Egypt. He was later made captain of the U-17's. Two years later, he went on to win the FIFA World Youth Championship and the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup that same year. Initially second-choice, he soon worked his way up to first-choice and eventually earned his first senior cap following some brilliant performances at club level.

Iker Casillas in Euro 2008

Casillas is currently the second-most capped goalkeeper in the history of the Spanish national team, behind Andoni Zubizarreta, who appeared in 126 matches.[12] Following his full international debut at the senior level against Sweden (at 19 years and 14 days), Casillas was an unused substitute at Euro 2000. He was part of the roster for the 2002 World Cup, initially as the understudy to Santiago Cañizares. Coincidentally, Casillas became the first-choice goalkeeper when Cañizares had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury from a freak accident. At 21, he was one of the youngest first-choice goalkeepers in the tournament. He played an instrumental role in Spanish progression when he saved two penalties in the shoot-out during the round of 16 match against the Republic of Ireland, earning him the nickname "The Saint".

Casillas played in all eight Group six fixtures during Euro 2004 qualifying, conceding just four goals. He kept a clean sheet in the second leg victory of the playoff against Norway which ended 3-0 in Oslo, and started all of Spain's Euro 2004 matches. He was the first choice for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, captaining the team twice, but could not prevent La Roja from losing 3-1 to a Zidane-inspired France in the Round of 16.

Iker Casillas playing for Spain

With the exclusion of his ex-Real Madrid teammate Raúl from the squad for Euro 2008, Casillas was given the captain's armband. He started the first two Group D games against Russia and Sweden before being rested in place of second-choice goalkeeper Pepe Reina for Spain's group stage elimination of Greece. Casillas saved two penalties from Antonio Di Natale and Daniele De Rossi as Spain eliminated Italy in the quarterfinals with a 4–2 shootout win following a goalless draw on 22 June.[13] Spain later went on to win the competition with a 1–0 win over Germany in the final on 29 June; Casillas kept clean sheets for the quarterfinal, semifinal, and final matches, with Sweden's first round goal by Zlatan Ibrahimović being the last one scored against him. On 29 June 2008 Casillas became the first goalkeeper-captain to lift the UEFA European Championship trophy when Spain beat Germany 1–0 in the final.[14]

In October 2008, Casillas and deputy in goal Pepe Reina broke the national record for the longest time spent without conceding a goal. The pair went unbeaten for 710 minutes, longer than Spain's longest-serving gloveman Andoni Zubizarreta and Paco Buyo.[15] Wesley Sonck of Belgium ended their goalless streak when he scored against them a 2010 World Cup qualifying match.

One of his saves during the quarterfinals versus South Korea during the 2002 FIFA World Cup was rated by FIFA as one of the top 10 saves of all time.[16] Casillas was the highest ranked goalkeeper (4th place) in the 2008 Ballon d'Or behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and national teammate Fernando Torres.

He was named the world's best goalkeeper in 2008 by the IFFHS.[17] He also came in third place in the best goalkeepers of all time ranking; beating Oliver Kahn.[18]

On 5 September 2009, after a 5-0 win over Belgium in a qualifying match for the World Cup, Casillas equalled Andoni Zubizarreta's national record of 56 clean sheets[19], and during the Spanish team's next match against Estonia on 9 September 2009, he surpassed Zubizarreta as the record holder for the most Spanish international clean sheets (this being achieved in Casillas' 98th appearance for the national team, while Zubizarreta made 126 before his retirement).[20]

Casillas as captain for Spain in the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals.

On 14 November 2009, he made his 100th appearance for the Spanish squad in the friendly win over Argentina, making him only the third player in history of Spanish football to ever reach this far internationally.[21] Only Andoni Zubizarreta, on 126, now stands ahead of him.[22]

On 11 July 2010, he captained Spain to their first ever World Cup title with a 1-0 win against the Netherlands.[23] In doing so he became the third ever goalkeeper to captain a World Cup winning side. He was voted the tournament's best goalkeeper and awarded the Golden Glove.[24] In the course of the finals in South Africa he kept five clean sheets, conceded two goals, and saved a penalty in the quarter final against Paraguay. In the final, he made two crucial stops from Netherlands' Arjen Robben with the score at 0-0 after the Dutchman had passed all the defenders.

Statistics

As of 11 July 2010

All-Time Club Performance

Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
Apps G A Apps G A Apps G A Apps G A Apps G A
Real Madrid
1999–00 27 23 5 1 12 19 3 5 47 48
2000–01 34 37 0 0 11 15 2 4 47 56
2001–02 25 27 5 5 9 6 1 0 40 38
2002–03 38 42 0 0 15 21 2 1 55 64
2003–04 37 50 2 1 9 10 2 2 50 63
2004–05 37 30 0 0 10 11 0 0 47 41
2005–06 37 38 4 6 7 9 0 0 48 51
2006–07 38 40 0 0 7 10 0 0 45 50
2007–08 36 32 0 0 8 13 2 6 46 51
2008–09 38 52 0 0 7 10 2 5 47 67
2009–10 38 35 0 0 8 9 0 0 46 44
Career totals 385 406 16 13 103 133 14 23 518 575
All-Time National Team Performance
National
Team 		Year Friendlies World Cup European Championships Confederations Cup Total
Pld GA Pld GA Pld GA Pld GA Pld GA
Spain 2000 3 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 6 5
2001 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 5 2
2002 4 1 5 5 2 0 0 0 11 6
2003 3 1 1 2 6 4 0 0 10 7
2004 6 3 3 1 3 2 0 0 12 6
2005 1 0 9 4 0 0 0 0 10 4
2006 4 3 3 4 3 5 0 0 10 12
2007 1 0 0 0 8 3 0 0 9 3
2008 7 1 2 0 6 2 0 0 15 3
2009 4 1 5 3 0 0 4 4 13 9
2010 3 2 7 2 0 0 0 0 10 4
Total 38 17 42 23 28 16 4 4 111 60

Honours

Real Madrid

Spain (youth level)

Spain

Individual

Personal life

Both Iker's parents, José Luís and María del Carmen came from the town of Ávila (Navalacruz). When he was a child, he lived for some years in Basque Country, but he has always considered Madrid as his hometown. Iker also has a younger brother named Unai. His past girlfriends have included former Miss Spain, Eva González and Ana Isabel Medinabeitia, who works as a marketing director for a bank in Madrid. Since 2009, his girlfriend has been the sports journalist Sara Carbonero.[35]

Notes

  1. ^ "Iker Casillas Fernandez" (player profile). Real Madrid. Retrieved 2010-07-20.
  2. ^ lvi1529@SZ71-60674. "Results men for FIFA.com by Player.xls" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Iker Casillas". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  4. ^ "Casillas' first squad list". realmadrid.com. 11 August 2009.
  5. ^ "Iker Casillas Ferández Profile, Statis, News, Game Log".
  6. ^ "Casillas and Raul commit to Real". Sky Sports. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  7. ^ "Forever white - Raúl and Casillas sign lifelong contracts with Real Madrid". Realmadrid.com. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2008.
  8. ^ "Casillas secures place in Madrid folklore". uefa.com. 9 February 2009.
  9. ^ City deny Casillas bid
  10. ^ Iker Casillas in the dark over Tottenham link
  11. ^ "Praise for Casillas". realmadrid.com. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
  12. ^ "Capitán Casillas: todo empezó en Suecia". As.com. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  13. ^ "Spain 0-0 Italy (4-2 pens)". BBC News. 22 June 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  14. ^ "Germany 0–1 Spain: Torres ends Spain's pain". Soccernet.
  15. ^ O'Donnell, Michael J (12 October 2008). "Casillas: Scoreless streak". Real Madrid C.F. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  16. ^ FIFA Fever Centennial Anniversary (1904–2004) DVD
  17. ^ Ingo Faulhaber. "IFFHS". Iffhs.de. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  18. ^ Ingo Faulhaber. "IFFHS". Iffhs.de. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  19. ^ Casillas on record-breaking pace
  20. ^ RealMadrid.com (9 September 2009). "Another Record Established". RealMadrid.com. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
  21. ^ "Alonso bags brace as Spain underline World Cup credentials". ESPN Soccernet. 14 November 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  22. ^ "Casillas and Buffon mark centuries". uefa.com. 15 November 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  23. ^ "Iniesta sinks Dutch with late strike". ESPN Soccernet. 2010-07-11. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  24. ^ http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/11/1725927/spains-casillas-wins-golden-glove.html
  25. ^ "IKER CASILLAS FERNÁNDEZ - PLAYER PROFILE". Realmadrid.com. Retrieved 27 June 2008. (See Honours section)
  26. ^ "Don Balón Premio Don Balón" (in Spanish). Es.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  27. ^ "Team of the Year 2007 announced". UEFA.com. 11 March 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  28. ^ "uefa.com". uefa.com. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  29. ^ "Team of the Year 2009 announced". marca.com. 20 January 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2009.
  30. ^ "Spain dominate Team of the Tournament". UEFA.com. 30 June 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
  31. ^ "2008 Team of the Year revealed". FIFA.com. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
  32. ^ "2009 Best goalkeeper of the Year revealed". As.com. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 26 Oct 2009.
  33. ^ El CSD concede a Casillas la Medalla de Oro de la Real Orden del Mérito Deportivo
  34. ^ http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=1272865/index.html#forlan+scoops+golden+ball+prize
  35. ^ "Iker Casillas in spotlight over girlfriend role". BBC News. 17 June 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2010.

References

  1. HISTORIA DEL FÚTBOL ESPAÑOL, SELECCIONES ESPAÑOLAS Template:Es icon ISBN 978-84-8229-12-3-9
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Iker Casillas.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Spain National Football Team captain
2006– 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by Real Madrid C.F. captain
2010– 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
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