Jerzy Dudek

Jerzy Dudek

Dudek in 2007
Personal information
Full nameJerzy Dudek[1]
Date of birth23 March 1973
Place of birthRybnik, Poland
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing positionGoalkeeper
Youth career
1985–1991Górnik Knurów
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1991–1995Concordia Knurów119(0)
1995–1996Sokół Tychy15(0)
1996–2001Feyenoord139(0)
2001–2007Liverpool127(0)
2007–2011Real Madrid2(0)
Total402(0)
National team
1998–2013Poland60(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Jerzy Dudek (Polish pronunciation: [ˈjɛʐɨ ˈdudɛk]; born 23 March 1973) is a Polish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

After beginning his career in his home country, he went on to have successful spells in the Netherlands and England, winning the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005 and appearing in 186 official games for the club over the course of six seasons. He also spent four years at Real Madrid.

Dudek played 60 times for Poland – the second most-capped player in his position for several years – representing the nation at the 2002 World Cup.

Club career

Early years

Born in Rybnik, Dudek began playing football at twelve for Górnik Knurów. Six years later he made his senior debuts with Concordia Knurów in the third division, where he set a record of 416 minutes without conceding a goal.

Dudek only played one season in the Polish top flight, appearing in roughly half of the matches for Sokół Tychy as the club finished in mid-table, making his first appearance in the competition against Legia Warsaw.

Feyenoord

Dudek left his country in 1996 at the age of 23, joining Feyenoord, but had to wait a year before he made his debut, proceeding to appear in all Eredivisie games for the club in the following four seasons combined. He won his first trophy in 1998–99 – the national championship – along with the following campaign's Dutch Super Cup, after a 3–2 win against AFC Ajax.

Dudek won the Dutch Golden Shoe award in 2000, becoming the first foreign player to win the award. He played his final game for the Rotterdam outfit on 26 August 2001, against Ajax.

Liverpool

Dudek joined Liverpool in England in late August 2001, and immediately replaced Sander Westerveld as coach Gérard Houllier's first-choice. Following a first season where his clean sheets and fine performances helped the club finish second in the Premier League behind double-winners Arsenal, he was nominated alongside Oliver Kahn and Gianluigi Buffon for the UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year award.

The following season, Dudek rebounded from a series of poor errors in the league to win the League Cup with a Man of the match performance against Manchester United in the final.[2][3] Pope John Paul II, who was a goalkeeper in his youth, met personally with Dudek in 2004, telling him 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's UEFA Champions League success to the late pontiff.[4]

Dudek was a catalyst in Liverpool's 2005 Champions League victorious run, performing a double save against A.C. Milan's Andriy Shevchenko at the end of extra time in the final, after Liverpool had rallied from a 0–3 deficit to tie the match 3–3. He saved from Andrea Pirlo and Shevchenko in the ensuing penalty shootout, in an eventual 3–2 win: during the shootout, he attempted to distract the Milan players with the "spaghetti legs" tactic that was used by former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1984 European Cup Final. Being European Cup winners for the fifth time, Liverpool kept the trophy and received the UEFA badge of honour, and as a tribute to Dudek's heroics, a group of Liverpool fans, the Trophy Boyz, recorded a novelty single called 'Du the Dudek'; he became the third Polish footballer after Zbigniew Boniek (with Juventus FC) and fellow goalkeeper Józef Młynarczyk (F.C. Porto) to win the Champions League – he also received his second Goalkeeper of the Year nomination.[5]

Dudek lost his starting position to new acquisition Pepe Reina in 2005–06, following an arm injury, only making 12 more appearances for the Reds in the following two seasons combined (eight in the league). Despite courting controversy by accusing manager Rafael Benítez of 'treating him like a slave', he insisted that 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.[6] He was voted by fans at No.36 in the list of 100 Players Who Shook the Kop.[7][8]

In a poll conducted by UEFA.com, Dudek's double save from Shevchenko was voted the Greatest Champions League moment of all time, ahead of Zinedine Zidane's left-footed volley against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 final and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's injury-time winner against Bayern Munich in 1999.[9]

Real Madrid

34-year-old Dudek moved to Real Madrid for the 2007–08 season, but only played in two La Liga matches in four years due to the presence of Iker 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 game of the season against Real Zaragoza was hailed in the Spanish press, despite not being enough to earn selection for Poland's squad for Euro 2008.[10]

In Juande Ramos's first game as Madrid manager, in December 2008, Dudek was handed a rare start in a 3–0 home win against FC Zenit Saint Petersburg, as the club was already qualified from the Champions 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'.[11] It would be his last appearance of the campaign, which also saw a 0–5 aggregate loss against former club Liverpool in the round of 16.

Speculation was rife about Dudek's dissatisfaction with life at Real, and an end-of-season return to Feyenoord where he would work more closely with coach Leo Beenhakker – his former boss at Feyenoord and also at the helm of the Polish national team – was a possibility, but nothing materialised, and with former teammate Jordi Codina leaving to join Getafe CF, the 36-year-old eventually accepted a new one-year deal to remain at the club, while also speaking about his contentment.[12]

On 27 October 2009, Dudek saw his first action of the season in the first round of the Copa del Rey, in a 0–4 shock loss against minnows AD Alcorcón from Segunda División B, with the goalkeeper being one of the few on the losing end to perform well.[13][14][15] He also appeared in the second leg, an insufficient 1–0 home win.

On 10 April 2010, following news of the horrific air crash which claimed the lives of 96 Polish people including president Lech Kaczyński and several top government officials, the players of both Real Madrid and Barcelona agreed, at Dudek's request, to observe a minute's silence for the evening's El 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 president Florentino Pérez and director Jorge 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."[16] ”

On 15 July 2010, Dudek accepted another one-year contract to stay with Real Madrid –[17] as manager José Mourinho was appointed, he worked with his fourth coach in as many seasons. On 30 November 2010, he was fined €5,000 for his role in the controversial sendings-off of teammates Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos in the Champions League group stage match against Ajax.[18]

Dudek made his first start of the 2010–11 season in the same competition, against AJ Auxerre on 8 December, but after making two impressive saves saw his action terminated after sustaining a jaw injury in a clash with opposing forward Roy Contout just before half-time.[19] He was successfully fitted with an intermaxillary fixation device and was out of action for six weeks before returning to training,[20] being subsequently praised for his performance by stand-in manager Aitor Karanka.

Dudek was named as a substitute for the 2010–11 Spanish Cup final, a 1–0 win against FC Barcelona. He made his final appearance for the Merengues on 21 May 2011 in an 8–1 home win over UD Almería, and was substituted in the 77th minute to a guard of honour from his Real Madrid team-mates.[21]

International career

Dudek received his first call-up for Poland in 1996 as an unused substitute during an exhibition game against Russia in Moscow, and won his first cap in February 1998 in another friendly, against Israel. He also captained the team once in a friendly against Estonia.

Dudek played nine of the national team's ten 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers as it finished top of its group, and started in the finals in Japan and South Korea, in an eventual group stage exit. He also played in seven of his country's ten qualifying matches for the 2006 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 of Artur Boruc and left off the final squad as a result, at which point he had earned 56 caps.

Dudek's omission from the World Cup squad was greeted with shock among Polish fans and media alike, with one newspaper's headline reading 'Has Janas [national team manager] gone mad?!'. During a warm-up match against Colombia, where both Boruc and Tomasz 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 goalkeeper Neco Martínez.[22]

Following the World Cup, Dudek returned to the national team to play in two internationals under new boss Beenhakker, a 0–2 friendly defeat in Denmark and a 1–3 UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying defeat against Finland 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 the 2010 World Cup qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Slovakia by interim manager Stefan Majewski: after being on the bench for the first match in Prague, which saw Poland's slim World Cup hopes shattered, Dudek won his 59th cap against the latter on 14 October, in Poland's final competitive game before Euro 2012: in a match which was played in heavy snow and in front of a near-empty Stadion Slaski in Chorzów, he was denied a clean sheet by a Seweryn Gancarczyk own goal, as Poland lost 0–1.

Dudek played his last international game on 4 June 2013, against Liechtenstein: he captained the team, wore number 60 on his shirt and came off just before half-time.

Ambassador for Euro 2012

Dudek's status as an icon in Poland played a crucial 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 the striker.

Honours

Club

Feyenoord
Liverpool
Real Madrid

Individual

Club statistics

[23]

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Poland League Polish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1995–96GKS TychyEkstraklasa150---150
Netherlands League KNVB Cup League Cup Europe Total
1996–97FeyenoordEredivisie00---00
1997–98340--20360
1998–99340---340
1999–2000340--60400
2000–01340--80420
2001–0230---30
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2001–02LiverpoolPremier League3502000120490
2002–033002020110450
2003–04300301040380
2004–052401060100410
2005–066000000060
2006–072010201060
Spain League Copa del Rey Supercopa de España Europe Total
2007–08Real MadridLa Liga1040-0050
2008–090020-1030
2009–100020-0020
2010–111000-1020
Total Poland 150000000150
Netherlands 1390001001601550
England 1270901103801840
Spain 20800020120
Career total 28301701105603670

Personal life

Dudek and his wife, Mirella, have one son, Aleksander, and two daughters, Wiktoria and Natalia. His father was a miner and he spoke of himself having taken training to follow in his father's footsteps before his opportunity to play football came along. His younger brother, Dariusz, was also a footballer, and played mainly for Odra Wodzisław.

Dudek refused to wear the '13' jersey 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 wore '25' as it was the next best thing while Codina wore '13' until his departure.[24] Dudek wore '13' for the 2009–10 season under Manuel Pellegrini,[25] but was handed back the '25' shirt under Mourinho. In his first season at Liverpool he wore the '12' jersey because Westerveld was still in possession of the '1' squad number.

In 2005 Dudek received the title of the honourable citizen of Knurów, during a charity match called "Jerzy Dudek & Friends." He also made his Polish television debut as an analyst for the 2005 UEFA Super Cup final between Liverpool and PFC CSKA Moscow, which he missed due to injury. In 2006, while on summer vacation in Poland, his home on the Wirral Peninsula was burgled and several valuables and treasured football memorabilia were stolen. Thanks to the efforts of the Merseyside Police Department his collection of shirts, medals and awards was recovered, along with most of his valuables.[26]

Dudek also stated that he would like to start a football academy in Poland with his brother after retiring from football.[27] He settled with his family in Kraków.[28]

References

  1. ↑ Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2007). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2007–08. Mainstream Publishing. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-84596-246-3.
  2. ↑ "Liverpool lift Worthington Cup". BBC Sport. 3 March 2003. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  3. ↑ McNulty, Phil (3 March 2003). "Dudek's day of deliverance". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  4. ↑ Lowe, Sid (28 March 2008). "Small Talk: Jerzy Dudek". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  5. ↑ "I am legend: Catching up with Liverpool's 2005 hero Dudek". Sports Illustrated. 19 May 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  6. ↑ "Dudek: I have 40,000 goodbyes to say". Liverpool FC TV. 7 May 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  7. ↑ "100 PWSTK – The definitive list". Liverpool FC TV. 8 October 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  8. ↑ "100 PWSTK – No.36: Jerzy Dudek". Liverpool FC TV. 15 August 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  9. ↑ "The greatest Champions League moments". UEFA. 15 September 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  10. ↑ J. O'Connell, Michael (12 May 2008). "Dudek's Goal: Euro 2008". Real Madrid. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  11. ↑ J. O'Connell, Michael (10 December 2008). "Juande post-match presser". Real Madrid. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  12. ↑ Cristobal, Carlos (19 July 2009). "I am happy in Madrid". Real Madrid. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
  13. ↑ El ridículo del Madrid en Alcorcón, 1 por 1 (Real Madrid's travesty in Alcorcón, 1 by 1); 20 Minutos, 28 October 2009 (Spanish)
  14. ↑ Lowe, Sid (27 October 2009). "Real Madrid thrashed by lowly Alcorcón in Copa del Rey". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  15. ↑ Lowe, Sid (28 October 2009). "Manuel Pellegrini is on the ropes after Real Madrid's greatest humiliation". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  16. ↑ Minute of silence before the El Clásico; Polish Soca, 13 April 2010
  17. ↑ "Official announcement". Real Madrid. 15 July 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  18. ↑ "Uefa bans Real coach Jose Mourinho for improper conduct". BBC Sport. 30 November 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  19. ↑ "Madrid's Benzema leaves Auxerre rooted to the spot". UEFA. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  20. ↑ "Jerzy Dudek injury update". Real Madrid. 9 December 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  21. ↑ "Jerzy Dudek plays his last game for Real Madrid against Almeria". Goal.com. 22 May 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  22. ↑ Harasimowicz, Martin (31 May 2006). "Kuszczak defiant despite blunder". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  23. ↑ "Jerzy Dudek". Footballdatabase. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  24. ↑ "Jerzy Dudek". Real Madrid. 30 July 2007. Retrieved 31 December 2008.
  25. ↑ "Definitive shirt numbers". Real Madrid. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  26. ↑ "England footballer Phil Jagielka robbed at knifepoint in his home by raiders who thought he was away with Everton". Daily Mirror. 25 September 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  27. ↑ Goltz, Matthew (4 May 2008). "Jerzy Dudek". Real Madrid. Retrieved 31 May 2008.
  28. ↑ "Jerzy Dudek między Koseckim a Bońkiem" (in Polish). Sportowe Tempo. 13 October 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.

External links