Iker Casillas Fernández (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈikeɾ kaˈsiʎas feɾˈnandeθ]; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and currently works as a football commentator. 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.[nb 1] He is known for his athleticism, quick reactions and outstanding shot-stopping ability. Having spent the majority of his career at Real Madrid, Casillas is one of the few players to achieve over 1000 professional career matches, and holds the record for the most clean sheets in the UEFA Champions League, as well as for the Spain national team. Currently, he works for RTVE, Movistar Plus+ and Azteca Deportes.
At club level, Casillas started his career with the Real Madrid youth team, eventually gaining promotion to the main team in 1999, where he became the youngest goalkeeper to play in the final of the Champions League, and to win the title, at 19 years and four days. Casillas became the first choice goalkeeper at Real Madrid, winning two Champions Leagues and La Liga titles in his first three seasons, establishing himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. During his highly successful career in Madrid, Casillas won all major club titles, including five La Liga titles, four Supercopa de España titles, two Copa del Rey titles, three UEFA Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups, two Intercontinental Cups and the FIFA Club World Cup. After 25 years with Real Madrid, Casillas joined FC Porto in 2015 on a free transfer, where he won the Primeira Liga and a Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira title. While at Porto, he broke the record for most consecutive seasons played in the UEFA Champions League (20) and amassed the most appearances in the competition (177). He ended his playing career in February 2020, after almost a year on the sidelines following a heart attack he suffered during a training session with Porto in May 2019.
With 167 international caps, Casillas has the second most appearances for the Spain national team, making him the joint tenth-most capped footballer of all time. An unused substitute at UEFA Euro 2000, Casillas became the nation's first choice goalkeeper at the 2002 World Cup, and went on to play at UEFA Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup. In 2008, he was made captain, and went on to lead the team to the European Championship title that year. Casillas also led Spain to their first World Cup win in 2010, where he kept a joint–record five clean sheets, winning the Yashin Award for the best goalkeeper of the tournament. Spain became the first nation to retain the European Championship, winning the title again in 2012, where he set the record for most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal in the competition (509). In 2014, Casillas became one of four players to represent Spain at four World Cups.
In 2008, Casillas placed fourth overall in the Ballon d'Or, and has been selected for the UEFA Team of the Year six consecutive times from 2007 to 2012, a record for a goalkeeper. Casillas was also selected in the FIFPro World XI a record five times for a goalkeeper, and was named as the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper a record five times, alongside Gianluigi Buffon and Manuel Neuer. He was named as the second-best goalkeeper of the 21st century, behind Buffon, and the second-best goalkeeper of the past 25 years by the same organisation.
Early life
Casillas was born on 20 May 1981 in Móstoles, province of Madrid, to José Luis Casillas, a civil servant in the Ministry of Education, and María del Carmen Fernández González, a hairdresser.[3] Both his parents had moved from their home of Navalacruz, Ávila.[3]
Casillas has a brother, seven years younger, named Unai, who used to play as a central midfielder for CD Móstoles.[4] 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.[5]
On one occasion as a young child, when he was seven or eight,[6] 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).[7][6]
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[8] in the fourth tier, during which they won their regional group,[9] 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.[10] Three days earlier, Casillas had made his La Liga debut in a 2–2 draw against Athletic Bilbao at San Mamés Stadium.[11] 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.[12][13]
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.[14][15]
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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.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18] He had been linked with other Premier League clubs before[19] 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.[20] 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.[21]
2010–2015
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 behind Gianluigi Buffon to win it 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.
On 22 December 2012, Casillas was dropped by José Mourinho for a Liga match against Málaga in favour of Antonio Adán.[22] 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).[23] 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 goalkeeper ahead of 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.[24] 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 in the latter competition.[25] 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.[26] 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. Although Diego Godín's opening goal resulted from an error by Casillas, Sergio Ramos tied the match for Real Madrid in injury time; the club went on to win the title in extra-time.[27][28][29]
Following the Champions League win, the 2014–15 season saw Casillas return to being the club's first choice goalkeeper, despite competition from new arrival Keylor Navas,[30] as he then went on to win the UEFA Super Cup, with Real Madrid defeating Sevilla 2–0 on 12 August 2014.[31][32] 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.[33][34][35][36][37] In May 2015, Casillas played in the Champions League semi-finals against Juventus, in which his team lost 3–2 on aggregate.[38]
Porto
2015–2019
"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!"
—Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon on Casillas following his transfer to Porto in July 2015.[39]
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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.[40][41][42] 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.[43]
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.[44] 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. 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.[45][46] In January 2016, he was blamed for the away loss at Vitória de Guimarães (1–0) in the league, following a high-profile error.[47]
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.[48][49] 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.[50]
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.[51][52] On 2 April 2018, Casillas played his 1,000th match as a professional in Porto's 2–0 loss at Belenenses.[53] In May, he won his first trophy with the club as they won the league title for the first time since 2013.[54] The 2017–18 Primeira Liga title was confirmed after Sporting CP and Benfica tied their respective match.[55] On 17 May 2018, he renewed his contract with Porto for another year.[56]
On 4 August, Casillas started in Porto's 3–1 victory over Desportivo das Aves in the 2018 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira.[57] He surpassed Giggs' record during the 2018–19 season, appearing in his 20th consecutive UEFA Champions League campaign.[58] On 11 December, Casillas, in a 3–2 away win over Galatasaray, became the first player to reach the knock-out stage 19 times,[58] and become only the second player after Cristiano Ronaldo to win 100 Champions League matches.[59] He made 31 league appearances throughout the season as Porto finished in second place, but his season was cut short after he suffered "an acute myocardial infarction" during training on 1 May 2019.[60][61] He was discharged from hospital on 6 May, but commented that he was uncertain about his future.[62]
2019–2020
In July 2019, following his heart attack two months earlier, Casillas returned for pre-season training.[63] Later that month, Porto announced that he had been given a role with the club's coaching staff as he continued his recovery.[61] In August, he was named in Porto's squad for the 2019–20 season.[64] In September, he shared the results of his medical tests on social media;[65] at the end of the month, he stated that he would wait until March of the following year to see how he is progressing with his recovery before deciding whether to return to playing or retire. In October, he posted a photo of himself working out in the club's gym on Instagram.[66] He resumed training on 4 November.[67]