Player Profile: Iker Casillas
Iker Casillas is a Spanish goalkeeper who was a part of the FIFA World Cup 2010 and managed to win it. He plays in the Spanish La Liga and performs for the club Real Madrid. He is the captain of both the Spanish club and the Spanish national team. While
being the captain of the Spanish side, he helped his country win their first ever European Championship in 44 years. This European cup was followed by the FIFA World Cup that he won in 2010. During the FIFA World Cup campaign, he won the Golden Glove award
as he was the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
From the time he came into the footballing world as a teenager, he was always recognized as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe. This title was well supported by the amount of individual titles that he received. He was one of those goalkeepers who got
nominated for the European Footballer of the Year award. He got nominated twice, which is an achievement itself. In 2008, Iker Casillas came 4th in the overall ranking while he was still considered the “best” goalkeeper in 2009. Later, in the same
year he managed to be in the UEFA team of the year for the third time. After winning the FIFA World Cup 2010 alongside Spain, Iker Casillas was considered the all-time favourite goalkeeper of many and became one of those players who have actually won all the
major national and club titles.
Iker Casillas has, is and always will be a part of the Spanish club Real Madrid. He is a product of their youth system and started playing for their junior squad during 1990-1991 season. Even though he was shining brightly in the junior team, he got the
first-team call up after 7 years when he was only 16 years old. On November 27th1997, he faced Rosenborg during the UEFA Champions League but he started to play as a regular after the 1998-1999 season when he substituted Bodo Illgner. Later in 1999,
he became a first choice for the Spanish club. In the year 2000, Iker Casillas became the youngest goalkeeper to play in a Champions League final match and it was his side that were able to defeat Valencia 3-0 later in the season. This was just four days after
his 19th birthday.
In 2001-2002, Iker Casillas was put on to warm the bench for Real Madrid as he was going through a phase of very bad form, but later he redeemed himself in the 2002 Champions league Final when his substitute Goalkeeper, Sanchez suffered an injury. The match
was against Bayer Leverkusen and it was Iker Casillas who managed to make extraordinary saves throughout the game and saved the day for Real Madrid as they won the game 2-1 and he won the number 1 jersey for the club and is still wearing it.
During 2007-2008, the season for Iker Casillas was simply outstanding. He helped his club Real Madrid win their 31st La Liga title and only conceded 32 goals in the 36 games that he played. These stats helped him win the Zamora trophy that is
given to the best goalkeeper of the Spanish League. On February 14th 2008, Raul and Casillas were rewarded with contract extensions and he signed the contract that would keep him in Real Madrid till 2017. The buy-out clause for the Spaniard is 113
million pounds. His amazing performance in Europe earned him a spot in the UEFA Team of the year and it was for the second time that he managed to be in the team.
In February, he also equalized Paco Buyo’s record as they both played 454 matches as a goalkeeper and now he has surpassed all others as he has appeared for Real Madrid more than any other goalkeeper. The 29 year old has still a lot of time left in the club
and he is definitely going to appear more than any other team mate. During the summer of 2009, the English Club Manchester City came under a new owner and they were buying all the great players. They managed to bid for the Spaniard and gave an offer for 129
million pounds but the Spanish captain told the press that he did not have any intentions of leaving his boyhood club. Despite the fact that many English Clubs wanted him to join them, he simply refused to do so.
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