Jerzy Dudek

At 51 years old, Jerzy Dudek has this physical status:

Jerzy Henryk Dudek (born 23 March 1973) is a Polish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his playing career in his home country and went on to have fruitful stints in the Netherlands and England, winning the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005 and playing in 186 official matches for the club over six seasons.

He spent four years at Real Madrid. Dudek played 60 times for Poland, becoming the country's second most-capped player in his position for many years.

Personal life

Victoria and Natalia are Dudek's husband and wife, Mirella, with Aleksander as their son and daughter. His father was a miner, and he told himself that he had been training to follow in his father's footsteps long before his opportunity to play football came along. Dariusz, his younger brother, was also a footballer, and he played for Odra Wodzisaw.

Since arriving at Real Madrid, Dudek refused to wear the 13 shirt for two seasons; according to the fact that Polish goalkeepers seldom use 13; the numbers 1, 12, 22 and 22 are commonly used. He therefore took number 25 because it was the next best thing, though Codina wore 13 until his departure.

During Manuel Pellegrini's tenure as the top-ranked player in 2009-10, but under Mourinho, the 25 shirt was returned. He wore 12 in his first season at Liverpool because Westerveld was still in possession of the 1 squad number.

During a charity match called "Jerzy Dudek & Friends" in 2005, Dudek received the title of Honourable Citizen of Knurów. He also appeared on Polish television as an analyst for the 2005 UEFA Super Cup final between Liverpool and CSKA Moscow, which he missed due to injury. His house on the Wirral Peninsula was burgled in 2006, and numerous valuables and cherished football memorabilia were stolen while on summer vacation in Poland. His collection of shirts, medals, and awards was found alongside the bulk of his possessions, thanks to the Merseyside Police Department's efforts.

After retiring from football, Dudek said he and his brother would like to start a football academy in Poland. He and his family lived in Kraków.

Dudek completed his first full season in the Volkswagen Castrol Cup in 2014, a racing series that took place at circuits around Eastern Europe in the summer months.

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Club career

Dudek, a boy from Rybnik, started playing football at the age of twelve for Górnik Knurów. He made his senior debuts with Concordia Knurów in the third division, where he set a record of 416 minutes without conceding a single point.

Dudek only played one season in the Ekstraklasa, appearing in only half of Sokó's matches, making his first appearance in the competition against Legia Warsaw.

Dudek left his country at the age of 23, joining Feyenoord, but he had to wait a year before making his debut, then appeared in all Eligible matches for the following four years combined. After a 3–2 victory over Ajax, he won the national championship in 1998–99, as well as the new version of the Johan Cruyff Shield.

In 2000, Dudek received the Dutch Golden Shoe Award, becoming the first foreign player to win the competition. On August 26, 2001, he played his last game for the Rotterdam team against Ajax.

In late August 2001, Dudek and fellow goalkeeper Chris Kirkland joined Liverpool. Despite the fact that the former was the more costly of the two, the former was immediately fired as goalkeeper Sander Westerveld as coach Gérard Houllier's first choice, and the club's second season, in which his clean sheets and fine results helped the team finish second in the Premier League behind double-winners Arsenal, was nominated alongside Oliver Kahn and Gianluigi Buffon.

Dudek won the League Cup with a player of the match against Manchester United in the final during the campaign. In 2004, Pope John Paul II, a goalkeeper who played for Liverpool, became his friend and followed him wherever they went; the player gave the Pope a souvenir goalkeeper shirt and said his UEFA Champions League victory to the late pontiff would be dedicated to him later this season.

After the team recovered from a 0-3 deficit to tie the game 3–3, Dudek was a catalyst in Liverpool's 2005 Champions League triumph, scoring a double save against Andriy Shevchenko at the end of extra time in the final. He saved Andrea Pirlo and Shevchenko in the ensuing penalty shootout and defeated 32-22. He attempted to discredit the opponents with the "spaghetti legs" tactic used by former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1984 European Cup Final. For the fifth time, the English retained the trophy and received a multiple-winner badge, and they became the third Polish footballer after Zbigniew Boniek (with Juventus) and fellow goalkeeper Józef Mynarczyk (Porto) triumphed in the Champions League, which was also a top-40 hit in the United Kingdom. Michael Shields, a club supporter who was imprisoned in Bulgaria in turbulent circumstances immediately following the match, received money from the sale of the track.

Following an arm injury, Dudek lost his starting position to Pepe Reina in 2005-06, and he only played 12 more times for the Reds in the subsequent two seasons (eight in the league). Despite a court case accusing boss Rafael Bentez of "treating him like a slave" and denying to make Poland's World Cup squad, the manager maintained he had no animosity against the club or anyone associated with it, and only wanted to leave after losing to make Poland's World Cup squad. Fans of "100 Players Who Shook the Country" ranked him at number 36 on the list of "100 Players Who Shook the Kop."

In a survey conducted by UEFA.com, Dudek's double save from Shevchenko was voted the highest Champions League moment of all time, ahead of Zinedine Zidane's left-footed volley against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 final and Ole Gunnar Solskjr's injury-time champion against Bayern Munich in 1999.

Due to the presence of Iker Casillas, the 34-year-old Dudek made it to Real Madrid for 2007-08, but he only played in two La Liga games in four years. However, his attitude and work ethic earned him acclaim from his followers, colleagues, teaching staff, and several Spanish journalists; his man of the match debut against Real Zaragoza was praised in the Spanish press, despite the fact that not being strong enough to gain selection for Poland's squad for UEFA Euro 2008 was praised by the Spanish press.

In Juande Ramos' first match as Madrid's manager in December 2008, Dudek got off to a rocky start in a 3–0 home loss of Zenit Saint Petersburg as the team was still qualified from the Champions League group stages. In a match where Madrid's attacking play made news, he made several fine saves and exuded an air of calm and optimism, particularly on crosses, receiving a clean sheet in the process. The goalkeeper's performance was lauded by the manager, who praised the goalkeeper's skills and referred to him as a "magnific player"; it would be his last game of the season, which also saw a 5–0 aggregate loss against former Liverpool in the round of 16.

Dudek's dissatisfaction with life at Real Madrid, as well as his return to Feyenoord, where he could work more closely with head coach Leo Beenhakker, who served with the Polish national team as a mentor. However, no move was made, and with former teammate Jordi Codina's departure to Join Getafe, the 36-year-old accepted a new one-year contract extension while still commenting on his content.

Dudek saw his first action of the season in the first round of the Copa del Rey on October 27th, 2009, with goalkeeper Alcorcón as one of the few on the losing side to do well. He appeared in the second leg, a humiliating 1–0 home win.

Following the announcement of the air crash that killed 96 Polish people, including President Lech Kaczyski and several top government officials, both Real Madrid and Barcelona players decided to observe a minute's silence for the evening's El Clásico match on April 10, 2010, following Dudek's request. His teammates also agreed to wear black armbands for the game.

Dudek signed a new one-year deal on July 15, 2010, allowing him to remain with Real Madrid. José Mourinho was hired as a manager in four seasons; on Friday, he was fined €5,000 for his participation in the tense sending-off of teammates Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos in the Champions League group stage match against Ajax.

In the same competition, Dudek got off to a good start against Auxerre on December 8th. However, after making two excellent saves, he saw his career come to an end after suffering a jaw injury in a brawl against opposition forward Roy Contout right before halftime. He was successfully fitted with an intermaxillary fixation device and was out of action for six weeks before returning to work, and stand-in boss Aitor Karanka praised him for his results.

In the 2010-11 Spanish Cup final, Dudek was named as a substitute, a 1–0 victory over Barcelona. In an 8–1 home victory over Almera, he made his final appearance for the Merengues on May 21 and was later moved in the 77th minute to a guard of honour from his Real Madrid teammates.

International career

During an exhibition game against Russia in Moscow, Dudek received his first call-up for Poland in 1996 as an unused replacement. He earned his first cap in February 1998 in another friendly with Israel, as well as captained the team in a friendly against Estonia.

Dudek qualified in the finals in Japan and South Korea, where they were eliminated at the national level after nine of the national team's ten 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. He appeared in seven of his country's top ten qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup, but was dropped from the starting lineup in favour of Artur Boruc and left out the final squad as a result.

Fans and media alike were shocked by Dudek's suspension from the World Cup squad, with one newspaper's headline headline reading, "Has Janas [national team manager] gone mad?" The enraged Polish fans started to chant Dudek's name as a reminder of Janas' decision to dismiss him after a 2–1 home loss. It's worth noting that Kuszczak's conceded, which prompted the chants, was derived almost from Neco Martez's goal-kick.

Following the World Cup, Dudek returned to the national team to compete in two internationals under new head Beenhakker, including a 2–0 friendly loss in Denmark and a 3–1 loss in UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying loss against Finland at home. Despite being on the bench for the first game against the Czech Republic and Slovakia by interim manager Stefan Majewski, he always believed he'd return to the national team, and after being on the bench for the first match against Poland's slim World Cup qualifiers before Euro 2012, he won his 59th cap against the latter on October 14 in the country's final competitive match against the former World Cup qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In a 1–0 loss of Seweryn Gancarczyk, he was denied a clean sheet by an own goal in a match that was played in heavy snow and in front of a near-empty Stadion Slaski in Chorzów.

Dudek retired from international service against Liechtenstein on June 4, 2013. He captained the team, wore number 60 on his shirt, and was dismissed just before halftime.

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