(Madrid, May 20, 1981) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper at the Oporto Football Club of the Primeira Liga de Portugal. He was an absolute international with Spain from 2000 to 2016 and captain (2006-2016).
He developed most of his sports career in the Real Madrid Football Club, first in his lower categories and from 1999 to 2015 in the first team, holding the captaincy between 2010 and 2015. He is the second player with more games in the history of the game. club, with a total of 725, behind Raúl González with 741
He was an absolute international with Spain from 2000 to 2016, and captain for ten years between 2006 and 2016. He is the Spanish international with the most matches in history and the seventh in the world with 167. He captained his national team, to be proclaimed twice champion of Europe (2008, 2012) and world champion (2010), thus achieving the first «triplet» of national teams.
He was considered for five years, the best goalkeeper in the world by FIFA and UEFA, through his XI FIFA / FIFPro World and UEFA Team of the Year awards. The IFFHS also elected him for five consecutive years as the best goalkeeper in the world, from 2008 to 2012. He was also included uninterruptedly between 2007 and 2012, in the final list of candidates for the Golden Ball.
Trajectory.
Real Madrid FC.
Iker Casillas Fernández was formed entirely at the soccer level, in the lower categories of Real Madrid, in which prebenjamin team began playing in the 1990/91 season. He was summoned for the first time with the first team, with just 16 years old and belonging to Juvenil A, for the Champions League match on November 27, 1997, the fifth match on the road to "La Septima", against Rosenborg in Norway Real Madrid contacted the director of the institute of Iker, to communicate his call, which was motivated by the losses of Illgner and Contreras, being the goalkeeper in that match Santiago Cañizares.
The following season 1998/99, he was part of the staff of Real Madrid C, the second subsidiary of the white club and Third Division team and was called by the U-20 national team with only 17 years, to play in the 1999 Youth World Cup in April. , in which Iker was one of the bastions for the achievement of the title.
His debut in the First Division and as a starter with the first team, took place in "La Catedral", San Mamés, on September 12, 1999, with the result of Athletic 2-2 Real Madrid .In that first season 1999/2000, He also became the youngest goalkeeper to play and win, a Champions League Final, when he achieved "The Octave" for the club, and at the end of that year 2000, he received the Bravo Trophy for the best young footballer in Europe.
It was Galactic.
With the arrival of Florentino Pérez to the presidency, after proclaiming himself the winner of the 2000 elections, a sports policy called "Zidanes y Pavones" was established in the club, based on having the best players in the world, combined with a strong promotion of the players of quarry. In 2002, after the incorporation of Ronaldo Nazario, the press coined the term "Galacticos" to refer to that team full of stars.
In that first season 2000/01, with Florentino Pérez at the helm of the club, he won the first of his five league championships so far, reaching, in turn, the semifinals of the Champions League. The following season 2001/02, Iker lost the ownership, to the detriment of the keeper César Sánchez, by decision of coach Vicente del Bosque. However, this season there is a turning point in Iker Casillas' sports career, which took place in the Champions League Final in Glasgow against German Bayer Leverkusen, in which the goalkeeper was César, who suffered an injury. and had to be replaced by Iker, which ultimately turned out to be alongside Zidane and his famous volley goal, the great hero of «La Novena», with three portentous interventions in the final minutes, thus lifting his second Champions League In three years, from that final on, he became the undisputed title-holder in the team and in the Spanish national team, with which he played that summer, the 2002 World Cup, in which he also has an outstanding performance.
The season 2002/03, is one of the most complete seasons of Iker, being named for the second consecutive year, second best goalkeeper in the world by the IFFHS. At the level of titles, he won the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, in addition to his second National League Championship. In Champions League, the team reached for the fourth consecutive year, the semifinals of the competition, being eliminated by Juventus of Turin.
In season 2003/04 and with Carlos Queiroz in susutirución of del Bosque, the team begins the season proclaiming itself champion of the Supercopa of Spain and completing until March of 2004, an impeccable campaign, exhibiting a great level of game, which placed them leaders in League, qualified for the Champions League quarter after eliminating FC Bayern and finalists of the Copa del Rey in the second round. It is in the wake of that Cup final, played at the Olympic Stadium of Montjuïc in Barcelona against Real Zaragoza, that the Real loses in extra time 2-3 and after the elimination of the Champions League quarter-final against AS Monaco, In which Madrid is eliminated in the round played in Montercarlo 3-1, unable to maintain the advantage of the first leg of 4-2, when the team begins a decline that lasts until the end of the season. de Queiroz was leader in day 26 with 59 points, while Rafa Benitez's Valencia was second with 51. In the last 12 days, the whites only added 11 of 36 points, finishing fourth to 7 points of the leader, a League that conquered Valencia CF with 77.
The following two seasons, the team does not achieve any title, which triggered in March 2006, the resignation of President Florentino Perez, calling elections for the presidency of the club in the summer of 2006, in which Ramón Calderón is elected.
It was Calderón.
In the 2006/07 season, the new Madrid president, Ramón Calderón, hired Fabio Capello as coach, who returned to the white club ten years later. As in that season 1996/97, his team reached the league title, completing a great comeback. Real Madrid reached the Camp Nou Classic of Matchday 28, with five points of disadvantage against Barça and just after the elimination in the last 16 of the Champions League against FC Bayern. The team completed a great game, which finished 3-3, of which Madrid came out very reinforced.In the last ten days remaining, the team scored 25 of the 30 points in play, including two epic comebacks in the last minute against Spanish and Recreativo, which earned him the thirtieth league title in club history and the third for Iker Casillas.
In the 2007/08 season and with Bernd Schuster as coach, Madrid revalidated the league title, taking an 18 point advantage to Barcelona, whom he already received as a champion at the Bernabéu, winning 4-1 and producing the traditional 'corridor' of the azulgranas players in honor of the champion On an individual level, Iker Casillas achieved his first Zamora Trophy, ahead of the Barça goalkeeper, Víctor Valdés. In turn, Casillas signed a contract extension until 2017 and a termination clause of € 113 million.
The 2008/09 season ended with no titles for the team, finishing runners-up in the League and eliminated in the last sixteen of the Copa del Rey and against Liverpool FC in the last 16 of the Champions League. At the institutional level, Ramón Calderón resigned as president of the club in January 2009, after uncovering the fraud that had taken place in the last Assembly, in which non-voting members had exercised as such, elections were held for the summer of 2009, in which only the former president Florentino Pérez, presented the necessary endorsement of 57.3 million euros in the register of the Electoral Board, being invested as the new president on June 1.
It was Pellegrini.
After the return three years after Florentino Perez to the presidency of the club, is made for that 2009/10 season, a multimillion-dollar investment of 264 million euros, signing up to eight players, among which Cristiano Ronaldo (96 €) , Kaká (€ 60m), Benzema (€ 35m) or Xabi Alonso (€ 30m). The team disputes the League Championship until the last days, finishing runner-up with 96 points, just 3 from Barcelona. However, in Copa del Rey, the team is eliminated again in the round of 32 against Alcorcón ("Alcorconazo") and in the Champions League it falls for the sixth consecutive year in the last 16, against Olympique Lyonnais, which causes non-continuity at the end of the season of coach Manuel Pellegrini.
At the beginning of this season, on October 4, in a league match against Sevilla FC played at Sanchez-Pizjuán, Casillas made one of the most brilliant interventions of his career, by stopping a point-blank shot from Diego Perotti, after a portentous stretched from side to side of the goal After the game, he received unanimous praise, like that of the English ex-barker Gordon Banks, who declared:
"The reflections of Casillas are incredible, if he continues to play well, he will become one of the best goalkeepers in the history of football."
It was Mourinho.
Iker Casillas during the derby of the 2010/11 season at the Bernabéu.
In the 2010/11 season, Iker became the captain of Real Madrid, after the marches of Raul and Guti at the end of the previous season.On the bench Jose Mourinho, who came from achieving the "triplet" with Inter, winning the Scudetto, the Coppa and the Champions League, after beating FC Bayern in the final of Madrid played at the Bernabéu and having eliminated Barcelona in the semifinals, then the current champion of the competition. final of the Mestalla Cup against FC Barcelona, the title of Cup of HM the King that the club had not achieved for 18 years.
In the 2011/12 season, Real Madrid achieved the so-called 'League of records', as it won the National League Championship, which was not achieved since 2008, reaching the historical record of points (100) and goals ( 121) .40 In the European Cup the semifinals were reached for the second consecutive year, being eliminated in the penalty shoot-out against FC Bayern, in which Iker stopped two throws to Kroos and Lahm.
The third and final season of Mourinho leading the first team, season 2012/13, ended with the Spanish Supercup achieved against FC Barcelona. In that season, Iker lost the title, the first league match that did not start as a starter, was the game against Málaga CF at La Rosaleda on December 22 (matchday 17), in which Antonio Adán started and finished with defeat of the white team, standing at 16 points of Barça. This substitution, intended to be a touch of attention of the Portuguese coach for its irregular start to the season, although other versions attribute it to the bad relationship between the captain and the coach, following a conversation revealed a few months before, between Iker and Xavi Hernández , emerged after the incidents occurred in the final minutes of the return of the Spanish Super Cup 2011. After the Christmas break, Mourinho returns to ownership to Casillas, who disputes the three league games, until January 23, 2013 , during the return leg of the quarterfinals of Copa del Rey against Valencia CF, occurred in a fortuitous action with his teammate Álvaro Arbeloa, a fracture in his left hand. This mishap supposed that it caused low during almost two months, and impelled to the club to sign a contrasting goalkeeper like Diego Lopez to replace it. When Iker was discharged at the beginning of April, he was unable to regain the starting position in any of the three competitions, due among other reasons, to the high level shown by his substitute. Mourinho justified this decision at the beginning with that he had the medical discharge but not the competitive one, to later openly acknowledge that he liked Diego's goalkeeper profile better than Iker's, and this decision by Mourinho provoked a great debate in the In the sporting aspect, the team reached the Champions League semifinals for the third year in a row, being eliminated against the prognosis against Borussia Dortmund, despite being one goal away from the pass to the Wembley final. But it is the irregular march of the team in the League Championship, which causes friction between the Portuguese coach and outstanding players of the locker room, which together with that environment divided by the debate of the goal, precipitates the non-continuity at the end of the season. coach, confirmed by the president on May 20, three days after the defeat in the final of Cup of HM the King before the Atlético
It was Ancelotti.
In the 2013/14 season, in which Carlo Ancelotti was the first coach, he played only the Copa del Rey and the Champions League matches, achieving both titles. They highlighted their performances in the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona and in the European Cup, in the semifinal against FC Bayern, in which the team beat the Bavarians by a 5-0 aggregate. In the final of Lisbon, played against Atlético on May 24, 2014, Casillas wins his third Champions League, raising the coveted "Décima" as captain.
F.C. Porto.
On July 11, 2015, his transfer to the F.C. Portuguese Porto, debuting in official competition match on August 15, 2015, with victory against Vitória Guimarães in the Primeira Liga.
National selection.
Iker Casillas is the player with more internationalities of the Spanish team, to overcome in the Wembley Stadium on November 12, 2011 against England, the 126 games played by Andoni Zubizarreta.
His debut as an absolute international was on June 3, 2000 in Gothenburg, Sweden, in the friendly match prior to Euro 2000, Sweden 1-1 Spain, followed by his debut in the official competition match on September 2. 2000 in a Bosnia 1-2 Spain played in Sarajevo, qualifying for the 2002 World Cup
With the lower categories of the Spanish team he was European champion sub-16 in 199763 and champion of the U-20 World Cup in 1999 with Xavi Hernández, 64 65 where despite starting as substitute of keeper Daniel Aranzubia, higher age (20 years for Iker's 17) and experience, he stood out for his performance in the quarterfinals, during the penalty shoot-out against the Ghanaian team.
Final phases.
In his first World Cup with the absolute and with José Antonio Camacho as coach, he was the starting goalkeeper of Spain, after being left out of the squad due to injury, the presumptive starter Santiago Cañizares In this 2002 World Cup, Spain was eliminated in the quarterfinals of final, after a controversial arbitration before the host team of South Korea. In the round of 16 match against Ireland, Casillas was the hero of the tie after stopping a penalty during the match and two more in the shootout that decided the match.
Following these decisive interventions, together with those made a month earlier in Glasgow with Real Madrid, in the final minutes of the Champions League Final, was born the legend and its nickname of "El Santo" or "San Iker "
The Euro 2008 played in Austria and Switzerland, was the coveted second continental title for Spain, after the one achieved in 1964. Iker captained the win to a team led by Luis Aragonés, unbeaten throughout the tournament. The key match of this European Championship and one of the most important in the history of the national team, was the quarterfinal match against Italy, in which Casillas, after stopping two shots at point-blank range of the Italian team during the regulation time and the extension , gave the pass to the semifinals to Spain with two great stops in the penalty shootout to De Rossi and Di Natale. He was included in the European Championship Team, as the best goalkeeper of the championship.
In 2010, Casillas captained the world champion team. In the final of the World Cup played against the Netherlands on July 11, 2010 in Johannesburg, he had a marvelous performance, with two decisive interventions in two heads-up with Arjen Robben, in the 62nd minutes' deflecting his shot and In the 83rd minute, ahead of the Dutchman's shot, throughout the championship, he made outstanding performances in the round of 16 against Portugal, in the quarterfinals against Paraguay with the stoppage of Cardozo's penalty and in the semifinals against Germany. It should be noted that, as in the 2008 and 2012 European Championships, Iker did not receive any in the elimination crosses, and on an individual level, he received the "Golden Glove" as the best goalkeeper of the championship and was included in the "Team of the Stars". », Composed of the best eleven players of the tournament.
In the European Championship played in Poland and Ukraine, she captained for the second consecutive time the national team, to proclaim herself European champion. He was included in the European Championship Team as the best goalkeeper, with stellar moments such as his decisive intervention in the group stage against Croatia or the semi-final against Portugal, in which he again stopped a pitch in the penalty shoot-out.
In the 2014 World Cup, Iker disputes his fourth World Cup, going to Spain as current champion. The selection completes a disappointing performance, signing its worst participation in a World Cup, after being eliminated in the group stage after defeats against the Netherlands and Chile.