.jpg) Dudek in 2007 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jerzy Henryk Dudek[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1973-03-23)23 March 1973 (age 52)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Rybnik, Poland[3][4] | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[5] | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper[2] | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1985–1991 | Górnik Knurów | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1991–1995 | Concordia Knurów | 119 | (0) |
| 1995–1996 | Sokół Tychy | 15 | (0) |
| 1996–2001 | Feyenoord | 139 | (0) |
| 2001–2007 | Liverpool | 127 | (0) |
| 2007–2011 | Real Madrid | 2 | (0) |
| Total | 402 | (0) | |
| International career | |||
| 1998–2013 | Poland | 60 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Jerzy Henryk Dudek (born 23 March 1973) is a Polish former professionalfootballer who played as agoalkeeper.
After beginning his career in his home country, he went on to have successful spells in the Netherlands and England, winning theChampions League withLiverpool in2005 and appearing in 186 official matches for the club over six seasons. He also spent four years atReal Madrid.
Dudek played 60 times forPoland – the second most-capped player in his position for several years – representing the nation at the2002 World Cup.
Born inRybnik,[2] Dudek began playing football at 12 forGórnik Knurów. Six years later, he made his senior debut with the renamed Concordia in thethird division, where he set a record of 416 minutes without conceding a goal.[6]
Dudek only playedone season in theEkstraklasa, appearing in roughly half of the matches forSokół Tychy as the club finished in mid-table, making his first appearance in the competition againstLegia Warsaw.[6]
Dudek left his country in 1996 at age 23, joiningFeyenoord, but had to wait a year before he made his debut, proceeding to appear in allEredivisie matches the following four campaigns. He won the national championship in1998–99 along with thesubsequent edition of theJohan Cruyff Shield, after a 3–2 win overAjax.[7][8][9]
Dudek won theDutch Golden Shoe award in 2000, becoming the first foreign player to achieve this.[10] Also that year, he was votedPolish Footballer of the Year.[11]
On 26 August 2001, Dudek made his final appearance for theRotterdam side, a 2–1 home loss also against Ajax.[12]
Dudek and fellow goalkeeperChris Kirkland joinedLiverpool in late August 2001.[10] Despite the latter being the more expensive of the two, the former immediately replaced incumbent goalkeeperSander Westerveld as coachGérard Houllier's first-choice[10] and, following afirst season where hisclean sheets and fine performances helped the club finish second in thePremier League behinddouble-winnersArsenal, he was nominated alongsideOliver Kahn andGianluigi Buffon for theUEFA Goalkeeper of the Year award.[13]
The following campaign, Dudek rebounded from a series of errors in the league towin theLeague Cup with aplayer of the match performance againstManchester United inthe final.[14][15]Pope John Paul II, who was a goalkeeper in his youth, met personally with him in 2004, saying that he was his fan and followed Liverpool whenever they played; the player presented the Pope with a souvenir goalkeeper shirt, and would later dedicate Liverpool'sUEFA Champions Leaguesuccess to the late pontiff.[16]
"They called the2005 Champions League final the ‘Miracle of Istanbul’. Well, this was my miracle. The save of my career. Of my life."
Dudek was a catalyst in Liverpool's 2005 Champions League victorious run, performing a double save againstAC Milan'sAndriy Shevchenko at the end ofextra time inthe final, after the team had rallied from a 3–0 deficit to tie the match 3–3. He saved fromAndrea Pirlo and Shevchenko in the ensuingpenalty shootout, won 3–2, where he attempted to distract the opposing players with the "spaghetti legs" tactic that was used by former Liverpool goalkeeperBruce Grobbelaar in the1984 European Cup final.[18] Being European Cup winners for the fifth time, the English kept the trophy and received a multiple-winner badge, and he became the third Polish footballer afterZbigniew Boniek (withJuventus) and fellow goalkeeperJózef Młynarczyk (Porto) to win the Champions League – he also received his second Goalkeeper of the Year nomination.[19][20][21] A group of Liverpool fans, "The Trophy Boyz", recorded a novelty tribute single called "Du the Dudek", which became a top-40 hit in the United Kingdom;[22] profits from the sale of the track went to the family ofMichael Shields, a club supporter who was imprisoned in Bulgaria in controversial circumstances following the match.[23]
Dudek lost his starting position to new acquisitionPepe Reina in2005–06, following an arm injury, only totalling 12 appearances for theReds in the following two seasons (eight in the league). Despite courting controversy by accusing managerRafael Benítez of "treating him like a slave", he insisted he had no ill feelings towards the club or anyone associated with it and only wanted to leave after failing to make Poland's World Cup squad, but still stayed on for another year at the manager's request.[24] He was voted by fans at number 36 in the list of "100 Players Who Shook the Kop".[25][26]
In a poll conducted by UEFA.com, Dudek's double save from Shevchenko was voted the greatest Champions League moment of all time, ahead ofZinedine Zidane's left-footed volley againstBayer Leverkusen in the2002 final andOle Gunnar Solskjær's injury-time winner againstBayern Munich in1999 for Manchester United.[27]
.jpg)
The 34-year-old Dudek moved toReal Madrid for2007–08,[28] but only played in twoLa Liga games in four years due to the presence ofIker Casillas. Nevertheless, his attitude and work ethic earned praise from his fans, teammates, coaching staff and several Spanish journalists; his man of the match performance in his debut, in the penultimate match of the season againstReal Zaragoza, was hailed in the Spanish press, despite not being enough to earn selection for Poland's squad forUEFA Euro 2008.[29]
InJuande Ramos' first match as Madrid manager, in December 2008, Dudek was handed a rare start in a 3–0 home defeat ofZenit Saint Petersburg as the club was already qualified from theChampions League group stages. In a match where Madrid's attacking play made headlines, he made several fine saves and exuded an air of calm solidity and confidence, particularly on crosses, earning a clean sheet in the process. This performance earned glowing praise from the manager, who highlighted the goalkeeper's qualities and referred to him as a "magnificent player";[30] it would be his last appearance ofthe campaign, which also saw a 5–0 aggregate loss against former club Liverpool in theround of 16.
Speculation was rife about Dudek's dissatisfaction with life at Real Madrid, and an end-of-season return to Feyenoord where he would work more closely with head coachLeo Beenhakker – his former boss at Feyenoord and also at the helm of the Poland national team – was a possibility. However, no move materialised, and with former teammateJordi Codina leaving to joinGetafe, the 36-year-old accepted a new one-year deal extension, while also speaking about his contentment.[31]
On 27 October 2009, Dudek saw his first action ofthe campaign inthe first round of theCopa del Rey, ina 4–0 shock loss to minnowsAlcorcón fromSegunda División B, with the goalkeeper being one of the few on the losing end to perform well.[32][33][34] He also appeared in the second leg, an insufficient 1–0 home win.[35]
On 10 April 2010, following news of theair crash which claimed the lives of 96 Polish people – includingPresident of PolandLech Kaczyński and several top government officials – the players of both Real Madrid andBarcelona agreed, at Dudek's request, to observe a minute's silence for the evening'sEl Clásico match. His teammates also agreed to wear black armbands for the match.
I had no choice but to fulfill an obligation, and asked the officials to give a minute of silence before the most important match of the season. After an hour I came to the club presidentFlorentino Pérez and directorJorge Valdano and they told me not to worry, and that everything will then be honored. They said, "We know what happened. Sincerest condolences. We are with you."[36]
On 15 July 2010, Dudek accepted another one-year contract to stay with Real Madrid.[37] As managerJosé Mourinho was appointed, he worked with his fourth coach in as many seasons; on 30 November, he was fined €5,000 for his role in the controversial sendings-off of teammatesXabi Alonso andSergio Ramos in theChampions League group stage match against Ajax.[38]
Dudek made his first start of2010–11 in the same competition, againstAuxerre on 8 December. However, after making two impressive saves, he saw his action terminated after sustaining ajaw injury in a clash with opposing forwardRoy Contout just beforehalf-time.[39] He was successfully fitted with an intermaxillary fixation device and was out of action for six weeks before returning to training,[40] and was also praised for his performance by stand-in managerAitor Karanka.[41]
Dudek was named as asubstitute in the2010–11Spanish Cup final, a 1–0 victory over Barcelona. He made his final appearance forthe Merengues on 21 May 2011 in an 8–1 home rout ofAlmería, and was substituted in the 77th minute to a guard of honour from his Real Madrid teammates.[42]
Dudek received his first call-up forPoland in 1996 as an unused substitute during anexhibition game againstRussia in Moscow. He won his firstcap in February 1998 in another friendly withIsrael, and alsocaptained the team once in a friendly againstEstonia.[6]
Dudek played nine of the national team's ten2002 FIFA World Cupqualifiers as they finished top of their group, and started in the finals in Japan and South Korea, where they exited at the group stage. He also played in seven of his country's tenqualifying matches for the2006 World Cup, but owing to a lack of appearances at club level during the season, he was dropped from the starting line-up in favour ofArtur Boruc and left off the final squad as a result.[43]
Dudek's omission from the World Cup squad was greeted with shock among Polish fans and media alike, with one newspaper's headline reading: "HasJanas [national team manager] gone mad?!" During a warm-up match againstColombia, where both Boruc andTomasz Kuszczak were at fault for each of the goals in a 1–2 home defeat, the angered Polish fans started to chant Dudek's name as a reminder of what they perceived as a mistake by Janas to drop him. It is worth noting that the goal Kuszczak conceded, which prompted the chants, was directly from a goal-kick from the opposing goalkeeperNeco Martínez.[44]
Following the World Cup, Dudek returned to the national team to play in two fixtures under new boss Beenhakker, a 2–0 friendly defeat inDenmark and a 1–3UEFA Euro 2008qualifying loss againstFinland at home, before being dropped yet again. Despite a period of three years "in the wilderness", he always believed that he would return to the national team and, in September 2009, he was called up to the squad for the2010 World Cup qualifiers against theCzech Republic andSlovakia by interim managerStefan Majewski; after being on the bench for the first match inPrague, which saw Poland's slim World Cup hopes shattered, he won his 59th cap against the latter on 14 October in the nation's final competitive game beforeEuro 2012. In a match which was played in heavy snow and in front of a near-emptyStadion Śląski inChorzów, he was denied a clean sheet by anown goal fromSeweryn Gancarczyk in a 0–1 defeat.[45]
Almost four years later, Dudek played his farewell game on 4 June 2013 againstLiechtenstein, becoming the oldest ever player to appear for the Poland national team at the age of 40 years and 73 days.[46] He captained the team, wore number 60 on his shirt and came off just before half-time.[47][48]
Dudek's status as an icon in Poland played an important role in securing the status of joint host nation for the Euro 2012 for his country. Along with his Champions League opponent Shevchenko of Ukraine, he was a part of the joint delegation and was involved in a presentation with thestriker.
Dudek was also named as the ambassador for the2015 UEFA Europa League Final inWarsaw.[49]
Dudek and his wife, Mirella, had one son, Aleksander, and two daughters, Victoria and Natalia.[50] His father was aminer, and he spoke of himself having taken training to follow in his father's footsteps before his opportunity to play football came along.[51][52] His younger brother,Dariusz, was also a footballer, and played mainly forOdra Wodzisław.[53]
Dudek refused to wear the number 13 shirt for two seasons after arriving at Real Madrid, stating that Polish goalkeepers generally do not use 13; the numbers 1, 12 and 22 are traditionally used. He therefore took number 25 as it was the next best thing while Codina wore 13 until his departure.[54]
Dudek was number 13 from 2009 to 2010 underManuel Pellegrini,[55] but was handed back the 25 shirt under Mourinho. In his first season at Liverpool, he wore 12 because Westerveld was still in possession of the 1 squad number.
In 2005, Dudek received the title of the honourable citizen ofKnurów, during a charity match called "Jerzy Dudek & Friends." He also made his Polish television debut as an analyst for the2005 UEFA Super Cup final between Liverpool andCSKA Moscow, which he missed due to injury. In 2006, while on summer vacation in Poland, his home on theWirral Peninsula was burgled and several valuables and treasured football memorabilia were stolen. Thanks to the efforts of theMerseyside Police Department, his collection of shirts, medals and awards was recovered along with most of his valuables.[56]
Dudek also stated he would like to start a football academy in Poland with his brother after retiring from football.[57] He settled with his family inKraków.[58]
In 2014, Dudek completed his first full season in the VolkswagenCastrol Cup, a racing championship held at circuits around Eastern Europe during the summer months.[59]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Sokół Tychy | 1995–96 | Ekstraklasa | 15 | 0 | – | – | 15 | 0 | ||||
| Feyenoord | 1996–97 | Eredivisie | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 1997–98 | Eredivisie | 34 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | 36 | 0 | ||||
| 1998–99 | Eredivisie | 34 | 0 | – | – | 34 | 0 | |||||
| 1999–2000 | Eredivisie | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 6 | 0 | 41 | 0 | ||
| 2000–01 | Eredivisie | 34 | 0 | – | 8 | 0 | 42 | 0 | ||||
| 2001–02 | Eredivisie | 3 | 0 | – | – | 3 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 139 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 156 | 0 | ||
| Liverpool | 2001–02 | Premier League | 35 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 49 | 0 |
| 2002–03 | Premier League | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 45 | 0 | |
| 2003–04 | Premier League | 30 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 38 | 0 | |
| 2004–05 | Premier League | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 41 | 0 | |
| 2005–06 | Premier League | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2006–07 | Premier League | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| Total | 127 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 38 | 0 | 184 | 0 | ||
| Real Madrid | 2007–08 | La Liga | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2008–09 | La Liga | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| 2009–10 | La Liga | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2010–11 | La Liga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 283 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 56 | 0 | 368 | 0 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poland | 1998 | 1 | 0 |
| 1999 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2001 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2002 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2003 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2004 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2005 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2006 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2007 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2008 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2013 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 60 | 0 | |
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Volkswagen Castrol Cup | N/A | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2014 | Volkswagen Castrol Cup | N/A | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 127 | 18th |
| 2015 | Volkswagen Gold Cup Poland | N/A | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 114 | 17th |
| 2016 | 24H Series - A3T | N/A | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| Sources:[63] | |||||||||
Feyenoord
Liverpool
Real Madrid
Individual
 | ||
Awards | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
