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 as a captian. With his unique strategies and leadership qualities,
he helped his country win the first ever European Championship in 44 years. The victory in European Cup was followed by remarkable success in FIFA World Cup, where he was awarded with Golden Glove award for being the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
From the time he came into the football 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 the goalkeepers who got nominated
for the European Footballer of the Year award twice, which is an achievement itself. In 2008, Iker Casillas came 4th in the overall ranking while he was still considered to be 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 to be the all-time favourite goalkeeper of many and he made history by actually winning all the major national and club
titles.
Iker Casillas always has been a part of the Spanish club Real Madrid. He is a product of their youth system and he started to play 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 16 years old. On November 27th 1997, 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 year 2000, Iker Casillas became the youngest goalkeeper to play in a Champions League final match and his side was able to defeat Valencia 3-0 later in the season 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 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. He won the number 1 jersey for the club and continues to wear it.
During 2007-2008, the season for Iker Casillas was simply outstanding. He helped his club Real Madrid in winning their 31st La Liga title and he only conceded 32 goals in the 36 games that he played. These stats helped him win the Zamora trophy
for being 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 up 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 teammate. 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 of the fact that many English Clubs wanted him to join them, he simply refused to do so.
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