Iker Casillas

Iker Casillas
Iker Casillas Eurocopa (cropped).jpg
Personal information
Full name Iker Casillas Fernández
Date of birth May 20, 1981 (1981-05-20) (age 28)
Place of birth    Madrid, Spain
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Real Madrid
Number 1
Youth clubs
1990–1998
1998–1999
1999–2000		 Real Madrid Youth
Real Madrid C
Real Madrid B
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1999– Real Madrid 313 (0)   
National team2
2000– Spain 088 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of March 27, 2008.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 19 November, 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)

Iker Casillas Fernández (pronounced [ˈiker kaˈsiʎas]; (born May 20, 1981 in Móstoles, Madrid) is a Spanish football goalkeeper who plays for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid C.F. and the Spanish national team.

Contents

Real Madrid

He was a product of Real Madrid's youth system, and started in the junior squad during the 1990-91 season, but it wasn't until 1998-99 that he debuted in the senior side, replacing Bodo Illgner, and he was in Real's starting lineup the next season. In 2000, he became the youngest-ever goalkeeper to ever play in a Champions League final when Real Madrid defeated Valencia C.F. 3-0 four days after his nineteenth birthday.

Casillas lost his spot to backup César Sánchez after a patch of bad form during the 2001-02 campaign, but Sanchez suffered an injury in the last minutes of Madrid's 2-1 2002 Champions League final victory over Bayer Leverkusen and was replaced by Casillas, who earned back the starting shirt the next season and has maintained it since. In February 2008, he 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.[1][2]

National team

Casillas debuted for the national team in the U–17 level. At age 16, he was the youngest player in the Spanish squad that came runners-up to Brazil at the 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Egypt.

He is currently the second-most capped goalkeeper in the history of the Spanish national team, behind Andoni Zubizarreta, who appeared in 126 matches.[3] He won the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup and FIFA World Youth Championship with Spain in 1999. Following his full international debut at the senior level against Sweden, 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. The 21-year-old proved himself worthy of the number 1 spot 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 6 fixtures during Euro 2004 qualifying, conceding just four goals. He kept a clean sheet in both legs of the playoff victory against Norway, and started all of Spain's Euro 2004 matches. He was first choice for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, captaining the team twice.

Casillas (left) celebrating with Spain after winning Euro 2008.

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 June 22. Spain later went on to win the competition with a 1–0 win over Germany in the final on June 29; 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 June 29,2008 Casillas became the first goalkeeper-captain to lift the UEFA European Championship trophy when Spain beat Germany 1–0 in the final.[4] 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.[5]

Statistics

As of 29 June 2008 (2008 -06-29)

Club performance League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Spain League Copa del Rey Europe Total
1999-00 Real Madrid La Liga 27 0 5 0 12 0 46 0
2000-01 34 0 0 0 11 0 45 0
2001-02 25 0 5 0 9 0 39 0
2002-03 38 0 0 0 15 0 53 0
2003-04 37 0 2 0 9 0 48 0
2004-05 37 0 0 0 10 0 47 0
2005-06 37 0 4 0 7 0 48 0
2006-07 38 0 0 0 7 0 45 0
2007-08 36 0 0 0 8 0 44 0
2008-09 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total Spain 313 0 16 0 89 0 419 0
Career Total 313 0 16 0 89 0 419 0
All-Time National Team Performance
National
Team		 Year Friendlies World Cup European Championships Total
Pld GA Pld GA Pld GA Pld GA
Flag of Spain.svg Spain 2000 3 3 3 2 0 0 6 5
2001 3 2 2 0 0 0 5 2
2002 4 1 5 5 2 0 11 6
2003 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2004 6 3 3 1 3 2 12 6
2005 1 0 9 4 0 0 10 4
2006 4 3 3 4 3 5 10 12
2007 1 0 0 0 7 3 8 3
2008 2 0 2 0 6 2 10 2
Total 25 12 27 16 21 12 73 40

Honours

Real Madrid

International

Individual

References

  1. ↑ Sky Sports - Casillas and Raul commit to Real
  2. ↑ "Forever white - Raúl and Casillas sign lifelong contracts with Real Madrid". Realmadrid.com (2008-02-14). Retrieved on 2008-06-27.
  3. ↑ Source: http://www.as.com/futbol/articulo/capitan-casillas-todo-empezo-suecia/dasftb/20061007dasdaiftb_25/Tes?print=1
  4. ↑ Germany 0–1 Spain: Torres ends Spain's pain, Soccernet.
  5. ↑ FIFA Fever Centennial Anniversary (1904-2004) DVD
  6. ↑ "IKER CASILLAS FERNÁNDEZ - PLAYER PROFILE". Realmadrid.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-27. (See Honours section)
  7. ↑ Don Balón Premio Don Balón
  8. ↑ "Team of the Year 2007 announced". UEFA.com (2008-03-11). Retrieved on 2008-06-25.
  9. ↑ "Spain dominate Team of the Tournament". UEFA.com (2008-06-30). Retrieved on 2008-06-30.

External links

Real Madrid C.F. – current squad

1 Casillas • 2 Salgado • 3 Pepe • 4 Sergio Ramos • 5 Cannavaro • 6 Diarra • 7 Raúl • 8 Gago • 9 Saviola • 10 Sneijder • 11 Robben • 12 Marcelo • 13 Codina • 14 Guti • 15 Drenthe • 16 Heinze • 17 van Nistelrooy • 18 De la Red • 20 Higuaín • 21 Metzelder • 22 Torres • 23 van der Vaart • 24 Javi García • 25 Dudek • Coach: Juande Ramos