Kaká had a financially-secure upbringing that allowed him to focus on both school and football at the same time. His younger brother Rodrigo (known as Digão) and cousin Eduardo Delani are also professional footballers.

He started his footballing career at the age of eight, when he began playing for a local club. By then, he also played tennis, and it was not until he moved on to São Paulo FC and signed his first professional contract with the club at the age of fifteen that he chose to focus on football.