Jerzy Dudek 

Jerzy Dudek
Personal information
Date of birth 23 March 1973 (1973-03-23) (age 35)
Place of birth    Rybnik, Poland
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Real Madrid
Number 25
Youth clubs
1985-1991 Górnik II Knurów
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1991–1995
1995–1996
1996–2001
2001–2007
2007–		 Concordia Knurów
Sokół Tychy
Feyenoord
Liverpool
Real Madrid		 119 (0)
015 (0)
139 (0)
126 (0)
010 (0)   
National team2
1998– Poland 058 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of May 27, 2008.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of May 27, 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)

Jerzy Dudek (pronounced ˈjɛʐɨ ˈdudɛk); born 23 March 1973 in Rybnik) is a Polish football goalkeeper who plays for Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid C.F. He has been capped 58 times for the Poland national team, and won the UEFA Champions League with Liverpool F.C. in 2005.

Contents

Career

Dudek began playing football at youth level at twelve for Górnik II Knurów. At sixteen, he made his debut in the oldest youth team of Górnik Knurów, before moving to Concordia Knurów in the Polish third division two years later. He set a goalkeeping record of 416 minutes in the third league without conceding a goal. After four years at the club, he moved to Sokół Tychy, making his debut against Legia Warsaw. He only played fifteen games before moving to Holland.

He left Poland in 1996 to join Feyenoord, but had to wait a year before he made his debut, after 140 consecutive games for the club. He won his first trophy in the 1998-99 season, along with the Dutch Super Cup later that year after defeating Ajax. Dudek was named the Dutch Goalkeeper Of The Year, becoming the first non-Dutch goalkeeper to win the award. He would retain the award again the following season. He played his final game for Feyenoord on 26th August 2001, against Ajax.

Dudek joined Liverpool August 2001, and was coach Gerard Houllier's first choice between the sticks. He was nominated alongside Oliver Kahn and Gianluigi Buffon for UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year at the end of the 2001-02 season. Pope John Paul II met personally with Dudek in 2004, telling him that he had followed Liverpool whenever they played.

Dudek was a catalyst in Liverpool's 2005 Champions League success, 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 3-0 deficit to tie the match 3-3. He saved from Pirlo and Shevchenko in the ensuing penalty shoot-out, which Liverpool won 3-2. During the shoot-out, 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. As a tribute to his heroics, a group of Liverpool fans called the Trophy Boyz recorded a successful novelty single called "Du the Dudek."

He received his second UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year nomination, but lost his starting position to new acquisition Jose Manuel Reina the next season following an arm injury. Dudek made a total of twelve more appearances over the next two seasons before departing to Real Madrid in 2006-07.

International career

Dudek has 58 caps for Poland. He received his first call up in 1996 as an unused substitute during a friendly against Russia in Moscow, and won his first cap in February 1998 in a friendly against Israel. He was a member the 2002 World Cup squad that was eliminated in the group stage, and due to his lack of appearances at club level, he was dropped from the starting lineup in favor of Artur Boruc, and was left off the 2006 World Cup squad as a result. He captained the team once in a friendly against Estonia.

Personal life

Dudek and his wife, Mirella, have one son, Aleksander, and two daughters, Wiktoria and Natalia. His brother, Dariusz, is also a footballer.

In 2005, he 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 European Super Cup final between Liverpool and CSKA Moscow, which he missed due to injury.

Honours

Feyenoord

Liverpool

Real Madrid

Individual

Career statistics

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
1995-96 GKS Tychy 15 0 - - - 15 0
Netherlands League KNVB Cup League Cup Europe Total
1996-97 Feyenoord Eredivisie 0 0 - - - 0 0
1997-98 34 0 - - 2 0 36 0
1998-99 34 0 - - - 34 0
1999-00 34 0 - - 6 0 40 0
2000-01 34 0 - - 8 0 42 0
2001-02 3 0 - - - 3 0
England League FA Cup Football League Cup Europe Total
2001-02 Liverpool Premier League 35 0 2 0 0 0 12 0 49 0
2002-03 30 0 2 0 2 0 11 0 45 0
2003-04 30 0 3 0 1 0 4 0 38 0
2004-05 24 0 1 0 6 0 10 0 41 0
2005-06 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
2006-07 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 5 0
Spain League Copa del Rey Copa de la Liga Europe Total
2007–08 Real Madrid La Liga 1 0 4 0 - 0 0 5 0
2008–09
Total Poland 15 0 - - - 15 0
Netherlands 139 0 - - 16 0 155 0
England 126 0 9 0 11 0 38 0 184 0
Spain 1 0 4 0 - 0 0 5 0
Career Total 281 0 13 0 11 0 54 0 359 0

External links

v • d • e
Real Madrid C.F. – current squad

1 Casillas • 2 Salgado • 3 Pepe • 4 Ramos • 5 Cannavaro • 6 Diarra • 7 Raúl • 8 Gago • 9 Saviola • 10 Sneijder • 11 Robben • 12 Marcelo • 13 Codina • 14 Guti • 15 Drenthe • 16 Heinze • 17 van Nistelrooy • 18 De la Red • 20 Higuaín • 21 Metzelder • 22 Torres • 23 van der Vaart • 24 Javi García • 25 Dudek • Coach: Schuster
Persondata
NAME Dudek, Jerzy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION footballer
DATE OF BIRTH 1973-03-23
PLACE OF BIRTH Rybnik , Poland
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH