Brazilian star Kaka calls it a day
RIO DE JANEIRO: Former Brazilian World Cup champion Kaka announced his retirement as a player on Sunday, suggesting that a management career at his old club AC Milan could be on the cards.
“I am preparing to continue in football and to have a different role, but I will no longer be a professional player, an athlete,” the 2007 Ballon d’Or winner told Globo television.
“I would like to take part in a club in a role more like... a manager, a sporting director — someone between the field and the club.”
Kaka, 35, said AC Milan “recently made this proposal.”
Kaka, who was part of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning team, started his storied career with Sao Paulo in Brazil, where his performances attracted the attention of Europe’s leading clubs and prompted a move to Milan in 2003.
It was while at Milan that Kaka picked up the Ballon d’Or, awarded annually to the world’s best player. He was the last player other than Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi to receive the prize.
He also helped the Italian side to a Serie A title in 2003-04 and propelled Milan to 2007 Champions League glory, scoring a competition-best 10 goals as the club were crowned kings of Europe for the seventh time.
Kaka joined Real Madrid in 2009 for a then world record transfer worth €68 million (RM327 million).
He won the King’s Cup in 2011 and was part of Jose Mourinho’s team that won the league crown a year later, but he fell out of favour in Madrid and returned to Milan on a free transfer in September 2013.
Kaka was unveiled as the face of Major League Soccer’s expansion franchise Orlando City in 2014. He was the North American league’s highest-paid player for three years running before leaving Orlando in October.
He scored 29 goals in 92 international appearances for Brazil.
Spain’s La Liga paid homage to Kaka on its Twitter account, saying: “One of football’s greatest talents is hanging up his boots after a glittering career.”
However, Kaka said his transition off the pitch wasn’t being taken for granted.
“The fact of having had successes as a professional player does not mean I will or won’t be a good manager. So I want to prepare myself for this going ahead, to study, to follow, to be closer to certain clubs, especially those where I played,” he told Globo. AFP