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The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organization that chronicles the history and records of association football.^[1][2][3] It was founded on 27 March 1984 at Leipzig (East Germany) by Dr. Alfredo Pöge with the blessings of general secretary of the FIFA at the time, Dr. Helmut Käser.^[1] In 2006 the IFFHS based at Borsigallee 15, 53125 Bonn, Germany.^[4]

During its early stages, and through the years until 2002, the IFFHS concentrated on publishing quarterly magazines like Fußball-Weltzeitschrift, Libero spezial deutsch, and Libero international.^[5] When these had to be discontinued for reasons which were not officially told, the organization published its material in a series of multi-lingual books in co-operation with sponsors.^[6] The statistical organization has now confined its publishing activities to its website, receiving logistical support from FIFA,^[6] organization that recognise the IFFHS and its work^[3][6] although the latter has no affiliation with the football's governing body.^[7] The magazine's back issues can still be obtained through internet sources.

Continental Clubs of the 20th Century[link]

In 2009, the IFFHS released the results of a statistical study which determined the best continental clubs of the 20th Century.^[8] The ranking did not consider the performance of the teams in national football tournaments (except in the Oceania's club ranking due to limited editions held under OFC club competitions), the performance in the intercontinental or world-wide club competitions or those submitted in the IFFHS Club World Ranking, available since 1991.^[9]

Based on this statistical study series, Spain's Real Madrid, Uruguay's Peñarol, Ghana's Asante Kotoko, Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal, Costa Rica's Saprissa and Australia's South Melbourne were named as "continental clubs of the century" by the IFFHS between 10 September and 13 October 2009. These clubs were awarded with a golden trophy and a certificate during the World Football Gala celebrated at Fulham, London (England) on 11 May 2010.^[10][11]

Criticism[link]

Karl Lennartz, a sports historian from Cologne, Germany, calls the organization "obscure", describing it as a one man show of its chairman Alfredo Pöge.^[12]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site (German) (English) (French) (Spanish)
• Annual Awards

Iker Casillas

Personal information
Full name	Iker Casillas Fernández
Date of birth	(1981-05-20) 20 May 1981 (age 31)
Place of birth	Móstoles, Madrid, Spain
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)[1]
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Real Madrid
Number	1
Youth career
1990–1998	Real Madrid
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–1999	Real Madrid C	26	(0)
1999	Real Madrid B	4	(0)
1999–	Real Madrid	457	(0)
National team‡
1996	Spain U15	1	(0)
1996–1998	Spain U16	19	(0)
1997–1999	Spain U17	10	(0)
1999	Spain U18	4	(0)
1999	Spain U20	2	(0)
1999–2000	Spain U21	5	(0)
2000–	Spain	130	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:02, 13 May 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 May 2012

Iker Casillas Fernández (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈikeɾ kaˈsiʎas feɾˈnandeθ]; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish football goalkeeper who plays for the Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid and the Spanish national team, being the captain of both. In 2008 he led the Spanish national team to their first European Championship in 44 years, and in 2010 to win the World Cup, Spain's first ever, being also named the tournament's best goalkeeper.

Casillas has been nominated for the European Footballer of the Year award twice, ranking fourth overall in 2008 and again receiving more votes than any other goalkeeper in 2009.^[2] At the end of 2009 he was voted into the UEFA Team of the Year for the third consecutive time. As of 2011 Casillas is one of a very select group of players who have won all major club and national championship titles. In 2010, he was awarded with the Sports Prince of Asturias Award. On 19 October 2010, Casillas became the most capped goalkeeper of all time in the UEFA Champions League and in November 2011, he became the most capped player of all time for the Spanish national team.^[3]

Early life[link]

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.^[4] Both his parents had emigrated from their home of Navalacruz, Ávila.^[4] When Iker was a child, he lived for some years in the Basque Country, but he has always considered Madrid to be his hometown.^{[citation needed]} Casillas has a brother, seven years younger, named Unai, who currently plays as a central midfielder for CD Móstoles.^[5]

As a young child, one weekend Casillas forgot to post his father’s football predictions on the weekend his father had correctly predicted all 14 results. The family lost out on an estimated €1m.^[6]

Real Madrid[link]

Casillas had started in the junior squad of Real Madrid's youth system during the 1990–91 season. On 27 November 1997 at age 16 he was first called up to the first team to face Rosenborg in Champions League, but it wasn't until the 1998–99 season that he debuted in the senior side, substituting Bodo Illgner. By the next season, he relegated Illgner to the bench and became first-choice.^[7] In 2000, he became the youngest ever goalkeeper to play in a Champions League final when Real Madrid defeated Valencia 3–0, just four days after his nineteenth birthday.^[8]

Casillas at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

Casillas lost his place in the side to backup César Sánchez after a patch of bad form during the 2001–02 campaign, but redeemed himself when 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. Real Madrid won 2–1 and Casillas has maintained the number 1 shirt ever since.

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 then club captain Raúl González were awarded a contract for life. 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 of the contract and a buy-out clause of £113 million.^[9][10] 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 twenty-seven years old.^[11] 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. Manchester United had been rumoured to have enquired about him, but no price was announced.^[12] He had been linked with other Premier League clubs before^[13] 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; he ran from one side of his goal to the other and denied Diego Perotti in a one-on-one close range encounter. 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."^[14] Europa Press reported that Casillas was the 2nd most popular Spanish sportsman on the internet throughout 2010. The study performed by company Vipnet360 examined the web presence on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.^[15]

During the 2011–12 season, Casillas won IFFHS Best Goalkeeper award, making him the only and first goalkeeper to win it 4 times.

Casillas played his 600th match for Real Madrid on January 22, 2012 in a 4–1 win against Athletic Bilbao.

On 2nd May 2012, Casillas clinched his 5th La Liga title and his 1st as a Captain of Real Madrid, with 3-0 win at Bilbao.

International career[link]

Casillas debuted for the national team in the U–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 U-17's. 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.

Iker Casillas playing for Spain

Casillas is currently the most capped player in the history of the Spanish 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 Euro 2000. He was part of the roster for the 2002 World Cup, initially as the understudy to Santiago Cañizares. Coincidentally, Casillas became the first-choice goalkeeper when Cañizares had to withdraw from the tournament due to injury from a freak accident. At 21, he 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 quarterfinals versus South Korea during the 2002 FIFA World Cup was rated by FIFA as one of the top 10 saves of all time.^[16]

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 FIFA World Cup, captaining the team twice, but could not prevent La Roja from losing 3–1 to a Zidane-inspired France in the Round of 16.

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 quarterfinals with a 4–2 shootout win following a goalless draw on 22 June.^[17] 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 for the quarterfinal, semifinal, 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 1–0 in the final.^[18]

Casillas was the captain of Spain in the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals.

In October 2008, Casillas and deputy in goal 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.^[19] 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 (4th 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 IFFHS.^[20] He also came in third place in the best goalkeepers of all time ranking; beating Oliver Kahn.^[20]

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,^[21] 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).^[21] Two months later, Casillas made his 100th appearance for the Spanish squad in the friendly win over Argentina, making him only the third player in history of Spanish football to ever reach this far internationally.^[22]

On 11 July 2010, he captained Spain to their first ever World Cup title with a 1–0 win against the Netherlands.^[23] In doing so he became the third ever goalkeeper to captain a World Cup winning side (along with Gianpiero Combi in 1934 and Dino Zoff in 1982). He was voted the tournament's best goalkeeper and awarded the Golden Glove.^[24] 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.

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.

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.

Sponsorship[link]

In January 2012, Casillas agreed a sponsorship deal with adidas to wear their Response goalkeeping gloves and Predator football boots.^[25] The move to adidas ended a long running association for Casillas with Reebok. 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. ^[26]

Statistics[link]

As of 13 May 2012

Club[link]

International[link]

Honours[link]

Club[link]

Real Madrid

• La Liga (5): 2000–01, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2011–12
• Copa del Rey (1): 2010–11
• Supercopa de España (3): 2001, 2003, 2008
• UEFA Champions League (2): 1999–2000, 2001–02
• UEFA Super Cup (1): 2002
• Intercontinental Cup (1): 2002

Country[link]

Spain-20

• FIFA World Youth Championship: 1999

Spain

• FIFA World Cup: 2010
• UEFA European Championship: 2008
• FIFA Confederations Cup: Third-place 2009

Individual[link]

• Bravo Award: 2000
• La Liga Breakthrough Player of the Year: 2000
• UEFA Team of the Year: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011^[27]
• Zamora Trophy: 2007–08
• UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 2008^[28]
• ESM Team of the Year: 2008
• FIFA/FIFPro World XI: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
• FIFPro#FIFA FIFPro World's Best Goalkeeper: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
• IFFHS Best Goalkeeper: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
• Best European Goalkeeper: 2008, 2010
• FIFA World Cup Golden Glove: 2010 ^[29]
• FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 2010
• UEFA European Championship Winning Captain: 2008
• FIFA World Cup Winning Captain: 2010

Decorations[link]

• Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit: 2009^[30]
• Favourite son of Navalacruz: 2010 ^[31]
• Favourite son of Móstoles: 2010 ^[32]

Outside football[link]

Personal life[link]

Since 2009, Casillas has been in a relationship with sports journalist Sara Carbonero.^[33] Avenida Iker Casillas [Iker Casillas Avenue] is a street in Móstoles, Madrid, Spain. The street was renamed from Avenida de los Deportes [Sports Avenue] on 5 January 2012 in commemoration of Iker Casillas, who was born in Móstoles.

Charity[link]

In 2011, Casillas was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme's Millennium Development Goals.^[34][35]

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Iker Casillas

• Official website
• Iker Casillas on Facebook
• Profile on Real Madrid official website
• Iker Casillas at La Liga
• 2010 FIFA World Cup profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• Iker Casillas at National-Football-Teams.com
• Iker Casillas – FIFA competition record
• Iker Casillas – UEFA competition record
• BDFutbol profile
• Iker Casillas Biography and Videos
• Transfermarkt profile
• ESPN Profile

Spain squads v t e Spain squad – 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship Winners (1st Title) 1 Aranzubia 2 Coira 3 Bermudo 4 Jusué 5 Orbaiz (c) 6 Marchena 7 Gabri 8 Xavi 9 Couñago 10 Colsa 11 Yeste 12 Varela 13 Casillas 14 Lombardero 15 Aganzo 16 Barkero 17 Rubén 18 Álvaro Coach: Sáez v t e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Cañizares 2 Salgado 3 Aranzábal 4 Guardiola 5 Abelardo 6 Hierro (c) 7 Helguera 8 Fran 9 Munitis 10 Raúl 11 Alfonso 12 Sergi 13 Casillas 14 Gerard 15 Engonga 16 Mendieta 17 Etxeberria 18 Paco 19 Velasco 20 Urzaiz 21 Valerón 22 Molina Coach: Camacho v t e Spain squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Casillas 2 C. Torres 3 Juanfran 4 Helguera 5 Puyol 6 Hierro (c) 7 Raúl 8 Baraja 9 Morientes 10 Tristán 11 De Pedro 12 Luque 13 Ricardo 14 Albelda 15 Romero 16 Mendieta 17 Valerón 18 Sergio 19 Xavi 20 Nadal 21 Luis Enrique 22 Joaquín 23 Contreras Coach: Camacho v t e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Cañizares 2 Capdevila 3 Marchena 4 Albelda 5 Puyol 6 Helguera 7 Raúl (c) 8 Baraja 9 F. Torres 10 Morientes 11 Luque 12 Gabri 13 Aranzubia 14 Vicente 15 Bravo 16 Alonso 17 Etxeberria 18 César 19 Joaquín 20 Xavi 21 Valerón 22 Juanito 23 Casillas Coach: Sáez v t e Spain squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Casillas 2 Salgado 3 Pernía 4 Marchena 5 Puyol 6 Albelda 7 Raúl (c) 8 Xavi 9 F. Torres 10 Reyes 11 Luis García 12 A. López 13 Iniesta 14 Alonso 15 Ramos 16 Senna 17 Joaquín 18 Fàbregas 19 Cañizares 20 Juanito 21 Villa 22 Ibáñez 23 Reina Coach: Aragonés v t e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2008 Winners (2nd Title) 1 Casillas (c) 2 Albiol 3 Navarro 4 Marchena 5 Puyol 6 Iniesta 7 Villa 8 Xavi 9 F. Torres 10 Fàbregas 11 Capdevila 12 Cazorla 13 Palop 14 Alonso 15 Ramos 16 García 17 Güiza 18 Arbeloa 19 Senna 20 Juanito 21 Silva 22 De la Red 23 Reina Coach: Aragonés v t e Spain squad – 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Third Place 1 Casillas (c) 2 Albiol 3 Piqué 4 Marchena 5 Puyol 6 Pablo 7 Villa 8 Xavi 9 F. Torres 10 Fàbregas 11 Capdevila 12 Busquets 13 López 14 Alonso 15 Ramos 16 Llorente 17 Güiza 18 Riera 19 Arbeloa 20 Cazorla 21 Silva 22 Mata 23 Reina Coach: Del Bosque v t e Spain squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup Winners (1st Title) 1 Casillas (c) 2 Albiol 3 Piqué 4 Marchena 5 Puyol 6 Iniesta 7 Villa 8 Xavi 9 F. Torres 10 Fàbregas 11 Capdevila 12 Valdés 13 Mata 14 Alonso 15 Ramos 16 Busquets 17 Arbeloa 18 Pedro 19 Llorente 20 Martínez 21 Silva 22 Navas 23 Reina Coach: Del Bosque v t e Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2012 1 Casillas (c) 2 Albiol 3 Piqué 4 Martínez 5 Juanfran 6 Iniesta 7 Pedro 8 Xavi 9 Torres 10 Fàbregas 11 Negredo 12 Valdés 13 Mata 14 Alonso 15 Ramos 16 Busquets 17 Arbeloa 18 Jordi Alba 19 Llorente 20 Cazorla 21 Silva 22 Navas 23 Reina Coach: Del Bosque