Kaká: I belong to Jesus
By Tomislav Topić

Being one of the most popular sports nowadays, football is where undreamt-of money can be earned by talented players. On the edges of large cities, in poor neighbourhoods, boys dream about football success and the great wealth it can bring, and spend much of their spare time honing their skills on improvised football courts. Brazil is a poor country where football is the most important thing in the world, and the result is that you can hardly find a significant football club in the world without a football wizard from Brazil, ready to create a scoring opportunity. Watching Adriano, Ronaldo, Ze Roberto, Rivaldo or Ronaldinho, we come to think that football is not just a game, but an artform as well. It is the love and faith for football that gives the boys from poor Brazilian neighbourhoods the opportunity to kick football alongside the best of the world’s players.

The athlete for Christ

Within the last one hundred years, since professional football began, you can always find a football manager with a talented Brazilian hidden up in his sleeve. Most are Catholics and they relate their religiousness closely to their football successes. For some there is nothing else but God and football. Brazilian winger Ze Roberto who plays for Bayern Munich, wears an undershirt when playing with the inscription ‘’Jesus is my strength’’. In his autobiography book The Pass of Dreams – with God on the Football Field Ze Roberto says he finds his football abilities a gift from God, and that there is something more between Heaven and the Earth than just a ball.

Barcelona’s midfielder, Ronaldinho, has got a series of religious pictures in his dressingroom locker. Before and after each match he speaks to God, and after each score we can see him with his eyes turned to heaven.

One of the artistes among the Brazilian football elite is Kaká. With the full name of Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, Kaká was born in Brazil in 1982. He started his football career in Sao Paolo in 2001, and two years later went to AC Milan. Despite the fast ascent both in Brazil and Italy, he remains modest and simple, just as he was in his younger days. He comes from a well-off family, unlike many of his poorer fellow countrymen, but he always proudly stresses his deep religiousness. For many years he has been a member of the Athletes for Christ Association, and in 2004 was appointed a United Nations Ambassador for the Fight against Starvation.

His parents raised him very strictly, and embedded in him the religious and traditional customs which still stay with the young player, despite being far from home.
As a child Kaká suffered a spinal injury from a fall into a swimming pool. It could have cost him his football career, but he believes his faith saved him, helped him to get well and become a successful athlete. The experience with Christ, prayer and the Bible, as he says himself, has always brought changes and joy into his life. He decided to deliver his life to Christ -­- he is sure he belongs to Him.

In the splendid moment on the occasion of the European Championship Title Celebration, he shared his belief in Christ with everyone. An unforgettable picture went around the world when he took off his Milan jersey and revealed his tee-shirt with the inscription ‘'I belong to Jesus''. He showed to whom he is thankful for the gift of playing football and the play that impresses the greatest of football experts.

The full article can be found on pages 66-67 of Vol 3
2007 issue.