Iker Casillas

**Iker Casillas Fernández** (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈikeɾ kaˈsiʎas feɾˈnandeθ]; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Portuguese club Porto and the Spanish national team. Popularly dubbed "*San Iker*"

 ("Saint Iker") for his ability to produce spectacular saves, Casillas
is widely considered to be one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time,[3][4][5][6][7] known for his athleticism, quick reactions, and outstanding shot-stopping ability.[8][9][10][11]

Casillas began his youth career with Real Madrid in 1990. After gaining promotion to the senior team in 1999, he remained with the club for 16 seasons, later serving as club captain. During his highly successful time in Madrid, he won five La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey titles, four Supercopa de España titles, three UEFA Champions League titles, two UEFA Super Cups, one Intercontinental Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup. He also amassed 725 appearances for Real Madrid, the second most in club history, before departing in 2015 to join Porto on a free transfer.[12] In Portugal, Casillas captured a Primeira Liga and Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira title.

Casillas debuted for the Spain national team in June 2000 at age 19. To date, he has made a national record 167 appearances, making him the joint sixth-most capped male footballer
 in history, and the joint second-most capped European player of all
time. He became the nation's first-choice goalkeeper at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and went on to play at UEFA Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup. In 2008, he was made captain, and led the team to that year's European Championship. He also led Spain to their first World Cup in 2010, and retained the European Championship in 2012.[13] In 2014, Casillas also became one of four players to represent Spain at four World Cups.[14]

Casillas was nominated for the Ballon d'Or award in 2008, ranking fourth overall.[15] In 2012, he was voted into the UEFA Team of the Year for a record sixth consecutive time. Casillas also holds the record for most appearances by a goalkeeper in the FIFPro World XI, and is the record appearances holder in the UEFA Champions League.[16][17] He has also played over 1,000 professional matches,[18] and has won all major club and national championship titles.

## Early life

Casillas was born on 20 May 1981 in Móstoles, Community of Madrid, to José Luis Casillas, a civil servant in the Ministry of Education, and María del Carmen Fernández González, a hairdresser.[19] Both his parents had moved from their home of Navalacruz, Ávila.[19]

Casillas has a brother, seven years younger, named Unai, who used to play as a central midfielder for CD Móstoles.[20] The brothers' forenames are of Basque origin due to a family connection to the region: their paternal grandfather – an officer in the Civil Guard – was posted to Bilbao
 and settled in the city, their father grew up there as a result and
Iker also lived in the area as a small child before the family relocated
 to Madrid.[21]

On one occasion as a young child, Casillas forgot to post his
father's football predictions for the weekend; his father had correctly
predicted all 15 results, and the family lost out on an estimated
€1.2 million (£1 million).[22][23]

## Club career

### Real Madrid

#### Early years

Casillas began his career in Real Madrid's youth system, known as La Fábrica, during the 1990–91 season. On 27 November 1997, at age 16 and still a junior, he was first called up to the senior team squad to face Rosenborg in the UEFA Champions League, although he remained on the bench throughout. After spending a season with the C-team[24] in the fourth tier, during which they won their regional group,[25] he came into contention as the club's first-choice between the posts. In starting the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League group stage fixture against Olympiakos
 on 15 September 1999, he became the youngest goalkeeper ever to feature
 in the competition at the time, aged 18 years and 177 days; a record
which was only broken in October 2017 by Mile Svilar.[26] Three days earlier, Casillas had made his La Liga debut in a 2–2 draw against Athletic Bilbao at San Mamés Stadium.[27] In May 2000, he became the youngest ever goalkeeper to play in and win a Champions League final when Real Madrid defeated Valencia 3–0, just four days after his 19th birthday.[28][29]

#### 2001–2010

Casillas lost his place in the side to backup César Sánchez after poor performances in the 2001–02 campaign, but redeemed himself when Sánchez suffered an injury in the final minutes of the 2002 Champions League Final. Casillas came on and pulled off several key saves to deny a rampant Bayer Leverkusen the Champions League crown. Real Madrid won 2–1.

Casillas in action for Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu in 2009

The 2007–08 season was a fruitful season for Casillas, as he helped Real Madrid reclaim their 31st La Liga title and conceded only 32 goals in 36 matches to claim the Zamora Trophy. On 14 February 2008, he and club captain Raúl
 were awarded contracts for life; Casillas signed a contract extension
that would keep him at the club until 2017, with an automatic extension
if he played 30 competitive matches during the final season of the
contract and a buy-out clause of £113 million.[30] His performances earned him a spot in the UEFA Team of the Year for the second time.

In February 2009, Casillas equalled Paco Buyo's
 record of 454 matches played for a goalkeeper and has since surpassed
it to become Real Madrid's most-capped goalkeeper of all time at only 27
 years old.[31] During the 2009 summer transfer window, some Spanish media reported that Manchester City
 had launched a record £129 million bid for the goalkeeper. The club
denied the rumours, however, saying that no such offer had been made. Manchester United had been rumoured to have enquired about him, but no price was announced.[32] He had been linked with other Premier League clubs before[33] but Casillas himself stated that he "had no intention of leaving" his boyhood club.

During the 2009–10 season on 4 October in a game against Sevilla, Casillas made an extraordinary save, running from one side of his goal to the other to deny Diego Perotti in a one-on-one, close-range encounter.[34] After the match, he received praise from fellow Spanish goalkeepers and England goalkeeper Gordon Banks,
 who stated, "Casillas' reflexes are incredible. If he continues to play
 this well he will become one of the best goalkeepers in the history of
the game." *Europa Press*
 reported that Casillas was the second-most popular Spanish sportsman on
 the Internet in 2010. The study performed by company Vipnet360 examined
 the web presence on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.[35]

#### 2010–2015

Casillas, wearing the captain's armband while playing for Real Madrid in 2010

During the 2010–11 season, after the departure of first and second captains of Real Madrid, Raúl and Guti respectively, Casillas was selected as first captain with new vice-captains Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and Gonzalo Higuaín.

During the 2011–12 season, Casillas won the IFFHS Best Goalkeeper award, making him only the second goalkeeper to win it behind Gianluigi Buffon
 four times and the only goalkeeper to win the award four times in a
row. Casillas played his 600th match for Real Madrid on 22 January 2012
in a 4–1 win against Athletic Bilbao. On 2 May 2012, Casillas clinched his fifth La Liga title and his first as a captain of Real Madrid, with a 3–0 win in Bilbao.

Casillas' gloves on display at the Santiago Bernabeu museum

On 22 December 2012, Casillas was dropped by José Mourinho for a Liga match against Málaga in favour of Antonio Adán.[36]
 This was the beginning of a series of sour disagreements between the
Portuguese coach and the player, some of which, along with other
internal affairs, were allegedly aired to the press by Casillas himself.
 This generated a shift in the opinion of certain sectors of Real
Madrid's fans, who gave Casillas the nickname "*topor*" (a portmanteau of "*topo*," and "*portero*," Spanish for "mole" and "goalkeeper," respectively).[37] During the 2012–13 season,
 Casillas won the IFFHS Best Goalkeeper Award for the fifth consecutive
time, making him the only goalkeeper in history to have ever won that
award five times (in a row).

In January 2013, after a serious injury to Casillas, Mourinho signed Diego López
 from Sevilla. López was named first-choice 'keeper ahead of Antonio
Adán and kept his place in the team even after Casillas had returned
from injury. After the 2012–13 season, Mourinho left Madrid and soon
after his departure, Spanish midfielder Andrés Iniesta criticised him for benching Casillas.

In the middle of 2013, it was announced that Carlo Ancelotti would be Real Madrid's head coach for the 2013–14 season. Real Madrid started the season with a 2–1 victory over Real Betis in which Casillas was benched once again. He made his first start in 238 days in the Champions League group stage match against Galatasaray,
 but was injured in the 14th minute after Sergio Ramos caught him with
an accidental elbow as the goalkeeper came from his line to make a
routine catch.[38] Despite being the club's second-choice 'keeper in La Liga, behind Diego López, Casillas continued to be Madrid's first choice 'keeper in the Champions League and Copa del Rey, setting a new record of 962 minutes without conceding a goal.[39] In February 2014, he became the first goalkeeper to play in every round of the Copa del Rey prior to the final without conceding a goal.[40] On 16 April, he captained Madrid in the final as they beat rivals Barcelona 2–1 at Valencia's Mestalla Stadium.

On 24 May 2014, Casillas captained Real Madrid in the 2014 Champions League final, winning the title for the third time in his career with a 4–1 win over Atlético Madrid in Lisbon; this was the tenth time Real Madrid had won the trophy.[41][42][43] Following the Champions League win, the 2014–15 season saw him return to being the club's first choice goalkeeper, as he then went on to win the UEFA Super Cup over Sevilla on 12 August 2014.[44][45][46] He then also won the FIFA Club World Cup later that year, making his 700th appearance for Madrid on 20 December 2014, in the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup Final, as Real Madrid defeated San Lorenzo 2–0.[47][48][49][50][51]

### Porto

"You've always been a
Real Madrid icon, but above all you've been one of the best
representatives of our position on the pitch. Good luck in your new
adventure, it'll be strange to see you in another shirt from now on. Go
Iker!"

After much speculation about his future, on 11 July 2015 Casillas signed with Portuguese Primeira Liga side Porto on a two-year deal with the option of a one-year extension.[53][54][55]
 Real Madrid's conduct in his exit was criticised, with Casillas'
parents claiming that he was being forced out of the club by president Florentino Pérez, who received calls to quit from fans. Former international teammate Xavi,
 who earlier that summer left Barcelona after a similarly long and
successful career, claimed that Real Madrid were ungrateful of Casillas'
 service to the club.[56]

Casillas made his Primeira Liga debut on 15 August, keeping a clean sheet in a 3–0 win over Vitória de Guimarães at the Estádio do Dragão.[57] On 29 September 2015, he overtook Xavi to become the player with the most appearances in the Champions League, making his record 152nd Champions League appearance in a 2–1 home win over Chelsea.[17] That season, Casillas also broke Edwin van der Sar's
 record for the most clean sheets in Champions League history, keeping
his 51st clean sheet in the competition on 20 October 2015, in a 2–0 win
 over Maccabi Tel Aviv, as his team climbed top of Champions League Group G.[58][59] In January 2016, he was blamed for the away loss at Vitória de Guimarães (1–0) in the league, following a high-profile error.[60][61]

On 11 March 2017, Casillas set a new personal record for clean
sheets in a single season with his sixteenth clean sheet in a 4–0 away
win over Arouca.[62][63]
 On 14 March, Casillas made his 175th appearance in UEFA club
competitions in a 1–0 away defeat to Juventus in the second leg of the
round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, overtaking Paolo Maldini as the player with the most appearances in European club matches.[64]

On 13 September, Casillas equalled Ryan Giggs's record of playing in 19 consecutive UEFA Champions League campaigns when he appeared in Porto's 3–1 home defeat to Beşiktaş in the 2017–18 edition of the tournament.[65][66]

On 2 April 2018, Casillas played his 1,000th match as a professional in Porto's 2–0 loss at Belenenses.[18] In May, he won his first trophy with the club as they won the league title for the first time since 2013.[67] The 2017–18 Primeira Liga title was confirmed after Sporting CP and Benfica tied their respective match.[68] On 17 May 2018, he renewed his contract with Porto for another year.[69] On 4 August, Casillas started in Porto's 3–1 victory over Desportivo das Aves in the 2018 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira.[70]

## International career

### Youth career

Casillas debuted for Spain at the under-17 level. At age 16, he was the youngest player in the Spanish squad that placed third at the 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Egypt. He was later made captain of the U17s. Two years later, he went on to win the FIFA World Youth Championship and the UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup
 that same year. Initially second-choice, he soon worked his way up to
first-choice and eventually earned his first senior cap following some
brilliant performances at club level.

### Senior debut, Euro 2000 and 2002 World Cup

Casillas is currently the most capped player in the history of the Spain national team. Following his full international debut at the senior level on 3 June 2000 against Sweden (at 19 years and 14 days), Casillas was an unused substitute at UEFA Euro 2000. He was part of the roster for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, initially as the understudy to Santiago Cañizares. Coincidentally, he became first-choice when Cañizares had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury from a freak accident.[71]
 At 21, Casillas was one of the youngest first-choice goalkeepers in the
 tournament. He played an instrumental role in Spanish progression when
he saved two penalties in the shoot-out during the round of 16 match
against the Republic of Ireland, earning him the nickname "The Saint". One of his saves during the quarter-final against South Korea during the 2002 World Cup was rated by FIFA as one of the top ten saves of all time.[72]

### Euro 2004 and 2006 World Cup

Casillas played in all eight Group six fixtures during Euro 2004 qualifying, conceding just four goals. He kept a clean sheet in the second leg victory of the playoff against Norway which ended 3–0 in Oslo, and started all of Spain's Euro 2004 matches. He was the first choice for the 2006 World Cup, captaining the team twice, but could not prevent *La Roja* from losing 3–1 to a Zinedine Zidane-inspired France in the Round of 16.

### Euro 2008

With the exclusion of his Real Madrid teammate Raúl from the squad for Euro 2008, Casillas was given the captain's armband. He started the first two 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 quarter-finals with a 4–2 shootout win following a goalless draw on 22 June.[73] Spain later went on to win the competition with a 1–0 win over Germany in the final
 on 29 June. Casillas kept clean sheets in all of the quarter-final,
semi-final and final matches, with Sweden's first round goal by Zlatan Ibrahimović being the last one scored against him. On 29 June 2008, Casillas became the first goalkeeper-captain to lift the UEFA European Championship trophy when Spain beat Germany in the final.[74]

In October 2008, Casillas and back-up Pepe Reina broke the
national record for the longest time spent without conceding a goal. The
 pair went unbeaten for 710 minutes, longer than Spain's longest-serving
 goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta and Paco Buyo. Wesley Sonck of Belgium ended their goalless streak when he scored against them a 2010 World Cup qualifying match.

Casillas was the highest-ranked goalkeeper (fourth place) in the 2008 Ballon d'Or, behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and national teammate Fernando Torres. Also in 2008, Casillas was named the world's best goalkeeper by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).[75] He also came in third place in the best goalkeepers of all time ranking, beating Oliver Kahn.[75]

### 2009 Confederations Cup and 2010 World Cup

Casillas was Spain's starting goalkeeper during the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup
 in South Africa, making four appearances as Spain finished the
tournament in third place. On 5 September 2009, after a 5–0 win over
Belgium in a qualifying match for the World Cup, Casillas equalled Andoni Zubizarreta's national record of 56 clean sheets, and during the Spanish team's next match, against Estonia
 on 9 September 2009, he surpassed Zubizarreta as the record holder for
the most Spanish international clean sheets (this being achieved in
Casillas' 98th appearance for the national team, while Zubizarreta made
126 before his retirement).[76] Two months later, Casillas made his 100th appearance for Spain in its friendly win over Argentina, making him only the third player in history of Spanish football to ever reach this far internationally.[77]

Casillas with the World Cup trophy during celebrations in Spain, July 2010

On 11 July 2010, Casillas captained Spain to their first ever World Cup title with a 1–0 win against the Netherlands.[78] In so doing, he became the third ever goalkeeper to captain a World Cup winning side (along with Gianpiero Combi in 1934 and Dino Zoff in 1982; the feat was later also achieved by Hugo Lloris in 2018). He was voted the tournament's best goalkeeper and awarded the Golden Glove.
 In the course of the finals in South Africa, he kept five clean sheets,
 conceded two goals and saved a penalty in the quarter-final against Paraguay. In the final, he made two crucial stops from Netherlands' Arjen Robben with the score at 0–0 after the Dutchman had passed all the defenders.[78] Before he went to pick up the World Cup trophy,
 Casillas would later state that images of the past captains doing the
same was in his head, reeling them off in perfect order going back to
the first World Cup he saw as a youngster:

On 15 November 2011, Casillas became Spain's most capped player,
breaking Andoni Zubizarreta's record after starting for Spain in their
2–2 draw against Costa Rica.[80] On 29 February 2012, in Spain's 5–0 win over Venezuela,
 Casillas equalled Edwin van der Sar's record of 72 international clean
sheets. On 30 May, in Spain's 4–1 win over South Korea, Casillas came on
 for Pepe Reina on the 82nd minute mark. This set the record for most
international victories with 95 giving Casillas yet another record to
his name. On 6 June, In Spain's 1–0 win over China PR, Casillas set the record for most international clean sheets with 74.[81]

### Euro 2012

Casillas lifting the Euro 2012 trophy, the third consecutive major title for Spain, achieving a historic treble

On 1 July 2012, Casillas became the first player to reach 100
international wins for his country. He also set another record with his
509 minutes without conceding a goal in that year's European Championship, keeping five consecutive clean sheets and breaking the longstanding tally of 494 minutes set by Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff.[82]
 The only goal he conceded, scored by Antonio Di Natale, came in Spain's
 opening match of the tournament, against eventual runners-up Italy.[83] Casillas then continued his new record for minutes unbeaten with Spain to 817 minutes.

### 2013 Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup

In June 2013, Casillas represented Spain at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil, making three appearances as Spain reached the final, only to be defeated by the hosts Brazil.

In June 2014, Casillas was selected to represent Spain in his fourth World Cup.[84] In the team's opening match, he made two mistakes leading to goals from Stefan de Vrij and Robin van Persie as the champions were defeated 5–1 by the Netherlands.[85] After the match, Casillas apologised for the defeat and called his performance the worst of his career.[86] He also started in Spain's second group game against Chile, which they lost 2–0 and were subsequently eliminated from the World Cup.[87] He received criticism for his role in Chile's second goal, where he punched Alexis Sánchez's free kick into the path of the goalscorer Charles Aránguiz.[88][89] On 23 June, Casillas was left on the bench for Spain's final game against Australia, with Pepe Reina playing instead.

### Euro 2016

On 5 September 2015, Casillas kept a clean sheet in his 100th game as Spain's captain, a 2–0 Euro 2016 qualifying win over Slovakia at the Estadio Carlos Tartiere in Oviedo.[90]
 On 13 November, Casillas kept his 100th international clean sheet with
Spain in a 2–0 friendly win over England, in Alicante, becoming the
first goalkeeper ever – male or female – to reach this landmark.[91] He equalled the Latvian Vitālijs Astafjevs' European record of 166 caps on 27 March 2016 by playing in a friendly against Romania.[92]

On 31 May, Casillas was named to Vicente del Bosque's final 23-man Spain squad for Euro 2016.[93]
 The following day, he became the most-capped European player by earning
 his 167th cap in a 6–1 friendly win over South Korea in Salzburg.[94] During the tournament, he was the second-choice goalkeeper behind David de Gea;
 Casillas did not make an appearance during the tournament as Spain was
eliminated in the Round of 16 following a 2–0 defeat to Italy.[95]

### 2018 World Cup

On 21 May 2018, Casillas was left out of Julen Lopetegui's final 23-man Spain squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[96][97]

## Style of play

"Honestly, I don't
have to use up many words to say how good he is, the results are there
for all to see. He has won everything there is to win and has been on
the same great level for so many years now, which is possibly hardest of
 all for a goalkeeper. Spain almost never concede goals and Casillas is
the main reason for that."

Widely considered by pundits, as well as both former and current
goalkeeping colleague, as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time,[3][4][99][100][101][102][103] Casillas was given the nickname "*San Iker*"
 ("Saint Iker") throughout his career, for his precocious performances
as a youngster, and due to his ability to produce acrobatic and decisive
 saves. In his prime, he was a spectacular and athletic keeper, who was
known in particular for his outstanding agility, reflexes, consistency
and shot-stopping, as well as his foot-work, positioning between the
posts, concentration, and speed when rushing off his line in one on one
situations;[9][100][104][105][106][107] he has also stood out for his penalty-saving abilities.[8][108][109]
 In spite of his reserved character, he has been highly regarded for his
 strong personality, calm composure under pressure, and leadership from
the back throughout his career.[9][110][111]

A precocious talent in his youth, Casillas has drawn praise for his longevity and consistency at the top level;[11][99][100][104]
 despite his reputation and goalkeeping ability, however, due to his
lack of notable height and strong physical attributes, he has been
criticised at times by pundits for his handling and indecisiveness when
coming out to claim crosses, often preferring to punch the ball away,
which led to a series of errors and less consistent performances in his
later career, as he lost some of his speed and mobility with age.[9][112][113][114]
 Although he has occasionally been criticised by pundits for his limited
 skills with the ball at his feet in comparison to other Spanish
goalkeepers, Casillas's distribution with both his hands and feet has
generally been reliable throughout his career, and he is capable of
sending the ball into deep areas of the pitch with his long kicks and
throws.[99][113][115]

## Sponsorship

In January 2012, Casillas agreed a sponsorship deal with Adidas to wear their Response goalkeeping gloves and Predator football boots.[116] The move to Adidas ended a long running association for Casillas with Reebok,
 which started in 2004. In February 2005, Casillas was the football face
 of Reebok's "I Am What I Am" global integrated advertising campaign
that linked all the brand's marketing efforts under one umbrella.[117] Adidas has been the parent company of Reebok since 2005.

## Outside football

### Personal life

Since 2009, Casillas has been in a relationship with sports journalist Sara Carbonero.[118] Their son Martín was born on 3 January 2014 in Madrid.[119][120]
 In November 2015, the couple announced they were expecting their second
 child. On 20 March 2016, the couple married. On 2 June 2016, Sara gave
birth to the couple's second child, Lucas.[121]

A street in Móstoles has been renamed *Avenida de Iker Casillas* in his honour.[122]

### Charity

In 2011, Casillas was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme's Millennium Development Goals.[123][124]

He has his own charitable foundation, the *Fundación Iker Casillas*.[125]