Casillas
Iker Casillas Fernández was born on 20,May 1981 in Móstoles, Madrid. He 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.
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 by the first team in 2November 1997 to face Rosenborg in UEFA Champions League 1997–98 when was just 16 years old at that time , but it wasn't until the 1998–99 season that he debuted in the senior side, replacing Bodo Illgner, and 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 3-0 just four days after his nineteenth birthday.
Casillas lost his place in the side to backup César Sánchez after a patch of bad form during the 2001–02 campaign, but 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.
During the 2007–08 season, Casillas helped Real Madrid to win their 31st "Liga" 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 contractextensions.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 ofthe contract and a buy-out clause of £113 million.
At the end of the season, he won the Zamora Trophy for the best goals conceded to games ratio in the league.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. Casillas himself stated that he "had no intention of leaving" his boyhood club
Honours
Real Madrid
* La Liga: 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08
* Spanish Super Cup: 2001, 2003, 2008.
* UEFA Champions League: 1997–98, 1999–00, 2001–02
* UEFA Super Cup: 2002
* Intercontinental Cup: 2002
Spain (youth level)
* UEFA U-15 Championship:[18] 1995
* UEFA U-16 Championship: 1997
* UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup: 1999
* FIFA World Youth Championship: 1999
Spain
* UEFA European Championship: 2008
Individual
* Bravo Award: 2000
* Don Balón Award for Breakthrough Player of the Year: 2000
* UEFA Team of the Year: 2007,2008
* 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
* FIFPro World XI: 2007–08
* IFFHS Best Goalkeeper: 2008
* FIFA.com Team of the Year: 2008
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