Iker Casillas

Iker Casillas Biography

Iker Casillas Fernandez is a Spanish football player who was born on May 21, 1981, in Mostoles, Spain. He plays as a goalkeeper for Porto and is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers at present. He has won the IFFHS Best Goalkeeper Award five times in a row, from 2008 to 2012.

Background

Iker started playing football at a very young age and joined his favourite club Real Madrid in the year 1990. Having joined the football club, he continued playing with diligence and worked a lot on his skills which gave him a place in the Spanish national U-15 team in the year 1996.

He played only one match for them and was transferred to the U-16 team. He dazzled everyone with his performance in junior matches and was selected to play for the Real Madrid C team. He gave some excellent performances with the gloves on and was selected for Real Madrid team B soon after.

In 1999, he was selected for UEFA Champions League team and was then the youngest goalkeeper to play in the league at an age of 18 years 6 months.

Debut

Iker Casillas made his debut for the Spanish national in June 2000 against Sweden which ended in a tie with a score of 1-1. In the next match, he prevented Luxembourg from scoring a goal, helping Spain win the match 1-0.

Rise to Glory

Casillas was one of the most sought after players in football after his tremendous performance in various tournaments such as UEFA Super Cup, Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Champions League in 2000-2001. His skills made him so valuable that Real Madrid did not let him go to other clubs, not even on a loan.

Low Points

Like every other star performer, Casillas too had to face struggles. He was through a difficult phase in his career when he got three back to back injuries in 2013. This kept him off the field for almost nine months but when he returned, he couldn't become that old goalkeeper for obvious reasons.

Club Career

Surprisingly, Casillas did not change his clubs too often and was with the Real Madrid until 2015. It was with Real Madrid that he won tournaments like FIFA Club World Cup, Intercontinental Cup, and La Liga tournaments as well.

To his name, he has as many as five La Liga Titles, four Super Cup Titles, two Copa Del Rey Titles, three Champions League wins, one International Championship and several other runner-ups.

He changed his club to Porto in 2015 but has not won a tournament with that club. His contract will expire in 2018 and it is likely that he will take up another club this time.