Iker Casillas Fernández (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈiker kaˈsiʎas ferˈnandeθ]; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish football goalkeeper who plays for and captains both La Liga club Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. In 2008 he was the captain of the Spanish team that won their first European Championship in 44 years, the Spanish team that went on to win Spain's first World Cup (a tournament in which he won the Yashin Award) and the 2012 European Championship.
Casillas has been nominated for the European Footballer of the Year award twice, ranking fourth overall in 2008 and again receiving more votes than any other goalkeeper in 2009.[2] At the end of 2012 he was voted into the UEFA Team of the Year for the sixth consecutive time, a record he shares with Cristiano Ronaldo.
As of 2011 Casillas is one of a very select group of players who have won all major club and national championship titles. In 2010, he was awarded with the Sports Prince of Asturias Award. On 19 October 2010, Casillas became the most capped goalkeeper of all time in the UEFA Champions League and in November 2011, he became the most capped player of all time for the Spanish national team.[3]
Early life
Casillas was born on 20 May 1981 in Móstoles, Community of Madrid to José Luis Casillas, a civil servant in the Ministry of Education, and María del Carmen Fernández González, a hairdresser.
Both his parents had moved from their home of Navalacruz, Ávila.[4] When Iker was a child, he lived for some years in the Basque Country, but he has always considered Madrid to be his hometown.[citation needed] Casillas has a brother, seven years younger, named Unai, who used to play as a central midfielder for CD Móstoles.
One weekend as a young child, Casillas forgot to post his father's football predictions on the weekend his father had correctly predicted all 14 results. The family lost out on an estimated €1.2m (£1m).
Real Madrid
Casillas started his career in Real Madrid's youth system, known as La Fábrica, during the 1990–91 season. On 27 November 1997 at age 16 he was first called up to the first team to face Rosenborg in Champions League, 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.[7] 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.[8]
Casillas lost his place in the side to backup César Sánchez after a bad actuation 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. Real Madrid won 2–1.
International career
Career high: Lifting the World Cup trophy at Soccer City in 2010. / wikipedia
