Iker Casillas

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This is a Spanish name; the first family name is Casillas and the second is Fernández.

This article's introduction section may not adequately summarize its contents. To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (August 2009)

Iker Casillas

Personal information
Full name	Iker Casillas Fernández
Date of birth	20 May 1981 (1981-05-20) (age 28)
Place of birth	Mostoles, Madrid, Spain
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)[1]
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Real Madrid
Number	1
Youth career
1990–1998	Real Madrid Youth
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps (Gls)†
1998–1999	Real Madrid C	026 (0)
1999	Real Madrid B	004 (0)
1999–	Real Madrid	355 (0)
National team‡
1996	Spain U15	001 (0)
1996–1998	Spain U16	019 (0)
1997–1999	Spain U17	010 (0)
1999	Spain U18	004 (0)
1999	Spain U20	002 (0)
1999–2000	Spain U21	005 (0)
2000–	Spain	099 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 October 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 October 2009

Iker Casillas Fernández Spanish pronunciation: [ˈiker kaˈsiʎas]; (born 20 May 1981 in Móstoles, Madrid) is a Spanish football goalkeeper who plays for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and as captain of the Spanish national team. He is currently first-choice goalkeeper for both club and country. As captain of the national side, he led a young Spanish team to their first European Championship in 44 years. He was ranked 4th in the 2008 Ballon d'Or, higher than any other goalkeeper in that year.^[2]

Contents [hide] 1 Real Madrid 2 International career 3 Statistics 4 Honours 4.1 Real Madrid 4.2 Spain (youth level) 4.3 Spain 4.4 Individual 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] 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 in 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.^[3] In 2000, he became the youngest-ever goalkeeper to ever play in a Champions League final when Real Madrid defeated Valencia 3-0 just four days after his nineteenth birthday. ^[4]

Photo of Iker Casillas

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 the twenty-year-old has maintained the number 1 shirt ever since.

The 2007–08 season was a fruitful season for Casillas. He helped Real Madrid to win their 31st league 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.^[5][6] His performances earned him a spot in the UEFA Team of the Year for the second time.

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.^[7] He had been linked with other Premier League clubs before^[8] 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."^[9]

[edit] 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.^[10] 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 gained hero status when he saved two penalties in the penalty shoot-out during the round of 16 match against the Republic of Ireland.

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 first choice for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, captaining the team twice, but could not prevent the 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 Real Madrid teammate Raúl from the squad for Euro 2008, Casillas was given the captain's armband. He started the first two Euro 2008 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.^[11] 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. In his 82 appearances for Spain, he has kept 42 clean sheets. 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.^[12]

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 the legendary Andoni Zubizarreta and Paco Buyo.^[13] 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.^[14] 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.^[15] He also came in third place in the best goalkeepers of all time ranking; beating Oliver Kahn.^[16]

On 5 September 2009, after the 5-0 win over Belgium in a qualifying match, Casillas equalled Zubizarreta's national record of 56 clean sheets^[17], 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).^[18]

[edit] Statistics

As of 24 October 2009 (2009 -10-24)^[update]

All-Time Club Team 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	44	43
	2000–01	34	37	0	0	11	15	2	4	45	52
	2001–02	25	27	5	5	9	6	1	0	39	38
	2002–03	38	42	0	0	15	21	2	1	53	63
	2003–04	37	50	2	1	9	10	2	2	48	61
	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	44	45
	2008–09	38	52	0	0	7	10	2	5	45	62
	2009–10	8	6	0	0	3	5	0	0	11	11
Career totals		355	377	16	13	98	129	14	23	483	542

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	2	0	5	3	0	0	4	4	11	7
Total		34	14	33	21	28	16	4	4	99	55

[edit] Honours

[edit] Real Madrid

• La Liga: 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08
• Spanish Super Cup: 2001, 2003, 2008.
• UEFA Champions League: 1999–00, 2001–02
• UEFA Super Cup: 2002
• Intercontinental Cup: 2002

[edit] Spain (youth level)

• UEFA U-15 Championship:^[19] 1995
• UEFA U-16 Championship: 1997
• UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup: 1999
• FIFA World Youth Championship: 1999

[edit] Spain

• UEFA European Championship: 2008

[edit] Individual

• Bravo Award: 2000
• Don Balón Award for Breakthrough Player of the Year: 2000^[20]
• UEFA Team of the Year: 2007,^[21] 2008^[22]
• ESM Team of the Year: 2007–08
• Zamora Trophy: 2007–08
• ESM Team of the Month: April-May 2000, January 2001, May 2002, February-March 2004, October-December 2007, January 2008, April 2008
• UEFA Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament^[23]
• FIFPro World XI: 2007–08
• IFFHS Best Goalkeeper: 2008
• FIFA.com Team of the Year: 2008^[24]
• LFP best goalkeeper: 2008/2009^[25]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ "1 Casilias". realmadrid.com. 9 August 2009. http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1193041476158/1193041476328/jugador/Jugador/Casillas.htm.
2. ^ lvi1529@SZ71-60674. "Results men for FIFA.com by Player.xls" (PDF). http://es.fifa.com/mm/document/classic/awards/99/15/28/resultsmenforfifa.combyplayer.pdf.
3. ^ "Casillas' first squad list". realmadrid.com. 11 August 2009. http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1202777809603/noticia/Noticia/Casillas__first_squad_list.htm.
4. ^ "Iker Casillas Ferández Profile, Statis, News, Game Log". http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/profile?id=11811&cc=4716.
5. ^ "Casillas and Raul commit to Real". Sky Sports. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11827_3146197,00.html. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
6. ^ "Forever white - Raúl and Casillas sign lifelong contracts with Real Madrid". Realmadrid.com. 14 February 2008. http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1202728357392/noticia/Noticia/Forever_iwhite_i.htm. Retrieved 27 June 2008.
7. ^ City deny Casillas bid
8. ^ Iker Casillas in the dark over Tottenham link
9. ^ "Praise for Casillas". realmadrid.com. 7 October 2009. http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1193040487651/1202798992869/noticia/Noticia/Praise_for_Casillas_2009-10-07.htm?w=2. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
10. ^ "Capitán Casillas: todo empezó en Suecia". As.com. http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/capitan-casillas-todo-empezo-suecia/dasftb/20061007dasdaiftb_25/Tes?print=1. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
11. ^ "Spain 0-0 Italy (4-2 pens)". http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/euro_2008/7468465.stm.
12. ^ "Germany 0–1 Spain: Torres ends Spain's pain". Soccernet. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=232286&cc=4716&league=UEFA.EURO.
13. ^ O'Donnell, Michael J (12 October 2008). "Casillas: Scoreless streak". Real Madrid C.F.. http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1202743931728/noticia/Noticia/Casillas:_Scoreless_streak.htm. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
14. ^ FIFA Fever Centennial Anniversary (1904–2004) DVD
15. ^ Ingo Faulhaber. "IFFHS". Iffhs.de. http://www.iffhs.de/?388d85ff8b00388f05f68e05b85fdcdc3bfcdc0aec70aeedb8a212. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
16. ^ Ingo Faulhaber. "IFFHS". Iffhs.de. http://www.iffhs.de/?388d85ff8b00388f05f4cbc0385fdcdc3bfcdc0aec70aeedb88419. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
17. ^ Casillas on record-breaking pace
18. ^ RealMadrid.com (9 September 2009). "Another Record Established". RealMadrid.com. http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1202792233128/noticia/Noticia/Another_record_established.htm. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
19. ^ "IKER CASILLAS FERNÁNDEZ - PLAYER PROFILE". Realmadrid.com. http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/1193041476158/1193041476328/jugador/Jugador/Casillas.htm. Retrieved 27 June 2008. (See Honours section)
20. ^ "Don Balón Premio Don Balón" (in Spanish). Es.wikipedia.org. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premio. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
21. ^ "Team of the Year 2007 announced". UEFA.com. 11 March 2008. http://www.uefa.com/fanzone/teamoftheyear/news/newsid=647292.html. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
22. ^ "uefa.com". uefa.com. http://www1.uefa.com/fanzone/teamoftheyear/news/newsid=793272.html?cid=rssfeed&att=index. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
23. ^ "Spain dominate Team of the Tournament". UEFA.com. 30 June 2008. http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/news/kind=1/newsid=729372.html#spain+dominate+team+tournament. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
24. ^ "2008 Team of the Year revealed". FIFA.com. 19 January 2009. http://www.fifa.com/newscentre/news/newsid=999725.html. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
25. ^ "2009 Best goalkeeper of the Year revealed". As.com. 26 October 2009. http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/messi-mejor-jugador-liga-2008-2009/dasftb/20091026dasdasftb_54/Tes. Retrieved 26 Oct 2009.

[edit] References

• HISTORIA DEL FÚTBOL ESPAÑOL, SELECCIONES ESPAÑOLAS (Spanish) ISBN 978-84-8229-12-3-9

[edit] External links

• BDFutbol profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• Iker Casillas FIFA competition record
• FootballDatabase career profile and statistics

[show] Iker Casillas - Navigation boxes and awards [show] v • d • e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Cañizares • 2 Salgado • 3 Aranzábal • 4 Guardiola • 5 Abelardo • 6 Hierro (c) • 7 Helguera • 8 Fran • 9 Munitis • 10 Raúl • 11 Alfonso • 12 Sergi • 13 Casillas • 14 Gerard • 15 Engonga • 16 Mendieta • 17 Etxeberria • 18 Paco • 19 Velasco • 20 Urzaiz • 21 Valerón • 22 Molina • Coach: Camacho [show] v • d • e Spain squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Casillas • 2 Curro Torres • 3 Juanfran • 4 Helguera • 5 Puyol • 6 Hierro (c) • 7 Raúl • 8 Baraja • 9 Morientes • 10 Tristán • 11 de Pedro • 12 A. Luque • 13 Ricardo • 14 Albelda • 15 Romero • 16 Mendieta • 17 Valerón • 18 Sergio • 19 Xavi • 20 Nadal • 21 Luis Enrique • 22 Joaquín • 23 Contreras • Coach: Camacho [show] v • d • e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Cañizares • 2 Capdevila • 3 Marchena • 4 Albelda • 5 Puyol • 6 Helguera • 7 Raúl (c) • 8 Baraja • 9 F. Torres • 10 Morientes • 11 A. Luque • 12 Gabri • 13 Aranzubia • 14 Vicente • 15 R. Bravo • 16 Xabi Alonso • 17 Etxeberria • 18 César Martín • 19 Joaquín • 20 Xavi • 21 Valerón • 22 Juanito • 23 Casillas • Coach: Iñaki Sáez [show] v • d • e Spain squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Casillas • 2 Salgado • 3 Pernía • 4 Marchena • 5 Puyol • 6 Albelda • 7 Raúl (c) • 8 Xavi • 9 F. Torres • 10 Reyes • 11 Luis García • 12 A. López • 13 Iniesta • 14 Xabi Alonso • 15 S. Ramos • 16 Senna • 17 Joaquín • 18 Fàbregas • 19 Cañizares • 20 Juanito • 21 Villa • 22 Pablo • 23 Reina • Coach: Aragonés [show] v • d • e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2008 Winners (2nd Title) 1 Casillas (c) • 2 R. Albiol • 3 F. Navarro • 4 Marchena • 5 Puyol • 6 A. Iniesta • 7 David Villa • 8 Xavi • 9 Torres • 10 Fàbregas • 11 Capdevila • 12 Cazorla • 13 Palop • 14 Alonso • 15 Sergio Ramos • 16 Sergio García • 17 Güiza • 18 Arbeloa • 19 Marcos Senna • 20 Juanito • 21 Silva • 22 de la Red • 23 Reina • Coach: Aragonés [show] v • d • e Spain squad – 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Third Place 1 Casillas (c) • 2 Albiol • 3 Piqué • 4 Marchena • 5 Puyol • 6 Pablo H. • 7 Villa • 8 Xavi • 9 F. Torres • 10 Fàbregas • 11 Capdevila • 12 Busquets • 13 D. López • 14 Xabi Alonso • 15 S. Ramos • 16 Llorente • 17 Güiza • 18 Riera • 19 Arbeloa • 20 Cazorla • 21 Silva • 22 Mata • 23 Reina • Coach: del Bosque [show] v • d • e IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper 1987: Pfaff | 1988: Dasaev | 1989: Zenga | 1990: Zenga | 1991: Zenga | 1992: Schmeichel | 1993: Schmeichel | 1994: Preud'homme | 1995: Chilavert | 1996: Köpke | 1997: Chilavert | 1998: Chilavert | 1999: Kahn | 2000: Barthez | 2001: Kahn | 2002: Kahn | 2003: Buffon | 2004: Buffon | 2005: Čech | 2006: Buffon | 2007: Buffon | 2008: Casillas Awards and achievements Preceded by Theodoros Zagorakis UEFA European Championship winning captain 2008 Succeeded by Incumbent Preceded by Petr Čech UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year 2008 Succeeded by Incumbent Sporting positions Preceded by Raúl González Spain captain 2006- Succeeded by Incumbent

[show] v • d • e Real Madrid C.F. – current squad 1 Casillas · 2 Arbeloa · 3 Pepе · 4 Sergio Ramos · 5 Gago · 6 M. Diarra · 7 Raúl (c) · 8 Kaká · 9 Ronaldo · 10 Lass · 11 Benzema · 12 Marcelo · 13 Dudek · 14 Guti. Haz · 15 R. R. Drenthe · 17 v. Nistelrooy · 18 R. Albiol · 19 Garay · 20 Higuaín · 21 Metzelder · 22 Alonso · 23 van der Vaart · 24 Granero · Coach: Pellegrini

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iker_Casillas"

Categories: 1981 births | Football (soccer) goalkeepers | Living people | Real Madrid Castilla footballers | Real Madrid C.F. players | Real Madrid C footballers | La Liga footballers | Spanish footballers | Spain under-21 international footballers | Spain international footballers | UEFA Euro 2000 players | 2002 FIFA World Cup players | UEFA Euro 2004 players | 2006 FIFA World Cup players | UEFA Euro 2008 players | 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players | UEFA European Football Championship-winning captains | UEFA European Football Championship-winning players