Name: Kakhaber "Kakha" Kaladze
Age: was born 27 February 1978
Position: LB/CB
Height: 1.86
Weight: 76
Number: 4
Nationality: Georgian
Age: was born 27 February 1978
Position: LB/CB
Height: 1.86
Weight: 76
Number: 4
Nationality: Georgian
Kakha Kaladze biography
Kakhaber "Kakha" Kaladze (, born 27 February 1978 in Samtredia) is a Georgia (country) Association football Defender (association football), who currently plays for Italian Serie A club A.C. Milan as well as captaining the Georgia national football team. Kakha Kaladze was voted Georgian Footballer of the Year in the years 2001-2003 and 2006.
Kakha Kaladze started Kakha Kaladze football career at Umaglesi Liga club FC Dinamo Tbilisi and made 82 appearances in a 5 year spell. Next, Kakha Kaladze moved to the Ukraine club Dynamo Kyiv and made 71 appearances before Kakha Kaladze was signed by the Italy Serie A club AC Milan. To date Kakha Kaladze has won the Georgian Footballer of the Year award four times and won Serie A, Ukrainian Premier League and Umaglesi Liga titles. Kaladze has been Cap (sport) 65 times for the Georgia national team, scoring one goal. With AC Milan Kakha Kaladze has won the UEFA Champions League on two occasions, the UEFA Super Cup once and the FIFA Club World Cup once. Kakha Kaladze brother, Levan Kaladze, was kidnapped in 2001 and officially declared dead in 2006. Outside of football Kakha Kaladze owns a company called Kala Capital and is an ambassador for SOS Children's Villages.
Club career
Early career
Prior to joining Milan, Kaladze played for FC Dinamo Tbilisi (1993–97), where Kakha Kaladze played in 82 games and scored 1 goal, and FC Dynamo Kyiv (1998–2001), where Kakha Kaladze scored 6 goals in 71 games. Kakha Kaladze won eight league titles in a row during Kakha Kaladze time at the two clubs. Kakha Kaladze made Kakha Kaladze top-flight debut as a 16-year-old with Dinamo Tbilisi during the Umaglesi Liga 1993-94. Kakha Kaladze caught the eye with a string of impressive displays and proved a mainstay of the Dinamo defence over four seasons. A €280,000 fee was enough to take Kakha Kaladze to the Ukrainian Premier League and Dynamo Kyiv in January 1998. Here Kakha Kaladze good form continued, with Kaladze making 63 appearances over two-and-a-half years before bigger, western European clubs came calling.
Milan
Kaladze became the most expensive Georgian footballer in history when Milan paid €16m to bring Kakha Kaladze to Italy from Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv, At Milan, Kakha Kaladze normally plays as a left back or even as a left-sided midfielder, but recently, Kakha Kaladze has switched back to a role in the centre of defence, Kakha Kaladze natural position before joining the Italian club. Kakha Kaladze transferred to A.C. Milan in January 2001 and initially Kakha Kaladze was tried out in a variety of defensive and midfield positions, before settling into the left-back berth. Kaladze formed a solid defence alongside Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta, and Alessandro Costacurta. In the Serie A 2002–03, Kakha Kaladze made 46 appearances in all competitions including 27 league appearances. Milan won the UEFA Champions League 2002–03, where they beat Juventus in a penalty shootout in the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final (despite Kaladze missing Kakha Kaladze penalty) and the Coppa Italia 2002-03 in 2003 where they beat AS Roma 6-3 on Two-legged tie in the final. After Kaladze's The Double success, the Georgian postal service issued a special stamp bearing the player's image. Kakha Kaladze is the first Georgian player to win a Champions League title.
Injuries unfortunately wrecked much of Kakha Kaladze Serie A 2003-04. Kaladze returned from injury, but Kakha Kaladze spot had already been taken. The return of Paolo Maldini in Kakha Kaladze old left-back role and the flying winger Sergio Claudio dos Santos's switch to full-back limited Kaladze to just 19 Serie A matches and five in the Champions League as the A.C. Milan finished as runners-up in both competitions. In 2005–06, the injuries of Jaap Stam and Maldini meant Kakha Kaladze was moved back into the centre of defence. In this new position Kakha Kaladze was able to fix Milan's defence problems and at one point, Milan did not concede a goal for more than five consecutive matches.
Kaladze won Kakha Kaladze second Champions League title on 23 May 2007 after Milan beat Liverpool FC 2-1 in the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final, Kakha Kaladze came on as a 79th minute substitute in that match. Kakha Kaladze later picked up the FIFA Club World Cup in December that year where Milan beat Boca Juniors 4-2 in the final, however Kaladze was one of two players to be sent off in that match. Kakha Kaladze has established himself as a first team regular but has only featured sparingly in the Serie A 2008-09 due to injury. Kaladze's performance in the 15 February Derby della Madonnina was described as a "horror show" on the Channel 4 website which started a dispute over an alleged smear campaign between Kaladze and the Georgian newspaper Lelo who used the quote "Milan really does need a new centre-back after Kakha Kaladze’s horror show in the derby". AC Milan finished 3rd in the league that season, 10 points behind leaders Inter Milan and Kaladze believed this was caused by the many injuries in the squad.
International career
Kaladze won Kakha Kaladze first cap against Cyprus national football team in March 1996. Kakha Kaladze subsequently featured in Kakha Kaladze country's qualifying campaigns for the 1998, 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups, and the 2000 and 2004 UEFA European Championships. Kaladze threatened to play for Ukraine national football team instead of the Georgia national team, Kakha Kaladze scored Kakha Kaladze first ever goal against Latvia national football team on 6 February 2007 in a Exhibition game which Georgia lost 3-1. Kakha Kaladze is currently the Captain (association football) of the national team.
In 2001, Kaladze's brother Levan was kidnapped in Georgia, with a ransom of $600,000 demanded. On 6 May 2005, Georgian police officers found eight dead bodies in Svaneti region and it was speculated that Levan was among the dead. Almost a year later, on 21 February 2006, Levan was officially identified among the deceased Two men were sentenced for the murder; David Asatiani for 25 years and Merab Amisulashvili for five years.
Along with Kakha Kaladze football career, Kaladze is also a successful businessman with investments in Georgia, Italy, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. A recent investment was the establishment of Kala Capital – a holding company which plans to target banking, real estate and energy sectors of the Georgian economy. Kaladze has also been active in charitable causes and is a FIFA ambassador for the SOS Children's Villages.
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