Jerzy Dudek

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Jerzy Dudek
Personal information
Full name	Jerzy DUDEK
Date of birth	March 23, 1973 (age 34)
Place of birth	Rybnik, Poland
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Nickname	The Dude [1]
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Liverpool
Number	1
Youth clubs
	Concordia Knurów
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995–1996 1996–2001 2001–present	Sokół Tychy Feyenoord Liverpool	015 (0) 139 (0) 126 (0)
National team2
1998–present	Poland	056 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:25, 24 February 2007 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 22 July 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Jerzy Dudek [IPA: jɛʒɨ dudɛk] (often referred to by a pet form of his name, Jurek) (born March 23, 1973 in Rybnik, Poland) is a Polish football player. He is currently playing as a goalkeeper for Liverpool F.C.. He has been capped 56 times for the Polish national team.

Prior to Liverpool, Dudek played for Concordia Knurów, Sokół Tychy, and Feyenoord Rotterdam.

Dudek's goalkeeping style is known as flamboyant and/or exaggerated, and has led to several costly mistakes, which have forced him down the pecking order at Anfield.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Trivia 3 Honours 4 Statistics 5 Notes 6 External links

[edit] Biography

In 1996, Dudek was signed by Feyenoord Rotterdam. The first year, he was second goalkeeper, behind the popular Ed de Goey, but when the latter left a year later to Chelsea FC, the Feyenoord management put confidence in Dudek by not signing another keeper, and from 1997 onwards he was their consistent first-choice in goal.

Signed by Liverpool on August 31, 2001 as a replacement for Sander Westerveld, Dudek also plays regularly for the Polish national team. After suffering a stressful 2002 FIFA World Cup Dudek was dropped from the Liverpool team after several bad performances in the English Premier League (particularly the howler against Manchester United on December 1, 2002) but then regained his place in the team after Chris Kirkland suffered an injury. Dudek finally lost his position as Liverpool's first-choice keeper after the arrival of Jose Reina in July 2005.

On 25 May 2005, Dudek became an instant hero in Liverpool after a characteristically mercurial performance in the Champions League final in Istanbul against A.C. Milan. Dudek made an incredible double save in the dying minutes of extra-time to prevent Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko from scoring what would almost certainly have been the match winner. Dudek then helped win the trophy for Liverpool with two saves in the penalty shoot-out - prior to each of the Milan penalties, on the advice of Jamie Carragher, Dudek performed a variety of movements in an attempt to distract the penalty takers. This has since been known as the "Dudek dance". During the post-match interview, Dudek stated that his flamboyant approach to the penalty shoot-out had been influenced by Bruce Grobbelaar, a former Liverpool goalkeeper. Grobbelaar was the hero of the 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory over A.S. Roma in the 1984 European Cup Final (the former name of the Champions League) after provoking Francesco Graziani to miss by wobbling his legs in mock fear. Speaking just after the final ended, Dudek stated in his inimitable English: "I am in the heaven".

Since that final, Dudek has been replaced in the first team by Spanish keeper Pepe Reina due to an elbow injury. He has since played a few games for the Reserves, but did appear in three Premiership matches when Reina was suspended due to a three-match ban after being red-carded following a fracas with Chelsea's Arjen Robben earlier in the campaign. He also played two more Premiership games near the tail end of the season.

On May 30, 2006, during the friendly match between the national teams of Poland and Colombia, the crowd in the stadium started to chant the name of Dudek, as a way to express the desire of having the goalkeeper in the 2006 World Cup Squad, mainly because of the mistake made by Tomasz Kuszczak, allowing the Colombian keeper Luis Enrique "Neco" Martinez to score a goal from a long punt.

The future of his playing career is still uncertain at Liverpool, with reports suggesting he may want a move back to either Poland or Holland.

[edit] Trivia

• In 2004, Pope John Paul II, who played football as a goalkeeper during his youth in Poland, met members of the Polish national side. It was at this time he told Dudek that he was a great fan of his and followed Liverpool whenever they played.

• A music group, The Trophy Boyz, comprised of a group of Liverpool fans, commemorated Dudek's performance in the Champions League Final with a dance track called Du the Dudek. The single was released in July 2005.

• Dudek married his wife Mirella (b. December 1974) in June 1996, and they have one son, Aleksander, born in December of that year and one daughter, Wiktoria, born in January 2006.

• On June 21, 2006, it was reported^[2] that Dudek had been left "devastated" by a burglary at his Wirral home, in which the accumulated memorabilia of his career, including his Champions League winners' medal and the shirt he wore in Istanbul, was stolen. The haul, however, was later recovered, and a man and woman charged with the burglary.^[3]

[edit] Honours

Feyenoord

• 1998–99 Dutch League Championship
• 1999–00 Dutch Super Cup

Liverpool

• 2002–03 League Cup
• 2004–05 UEFA Champions League
• 2005–06 FA Cup
• 2006–07 Community Shield

Personal honours

• 1998–99 Dutch Keeper Of The Year
• 1999–00 Dutch Player Of The Year

[edit] Statistics

Club Performance

Club	Season	Premiership		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Liverpool FC	2006-07	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
	2005-06	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
	2004-05	24	0	1	0	6	0	10	0	0	0	41	0
	2003-04	30	0	3	0	1	0	4	0	0	0	38	0
	2002-03	30	0	2	0	2	0	11	0	1	0	46	0
	2001-02	35	0	2	0	0	0	12	0	0	0	49	0
Club	Season	Eredivisie		Dutch Cup		---------		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Feyenoord	2001-02	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	2000-01	34	0	?	?	-	-	8	0	0	0	42	0
	1999-00	34	0	?	?	-	-	6	0	0	0	40	0
	1998-99	34	0	?	?	-	-	0	0	0	0	34	0
	1997-98	34	0	?	?	-	-	2?	0	0	0	36	0
	1996-97	0	0	?	?	-	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
Club	Season	Premier League		Polish Cup		---------		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Sokół Tychy	1995-96	15	0	?	?	-	-	0	0	0	0	15	0
Total		279	0	8	0	10	0	54	0	1	0	352	0

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Liverpool F.C. Annual, 2004
2. ^ http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N152671060621-0947.htm
3. ^ http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N152729060626-1058.htm

[edit] External links

• JERZY DUDEK OFFICIAL WEBSITE
• Jerzy Dudek career stats at Soccerbase
• Jerzy Dudek Official Website at Icons.com
• Jerzy Dudek Polish Website

	Poland squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Dudek | 2 Kłos | 3 Zieliński | 4 Michał Żewłakow | 5 Rząsa | 6 Hajto | 7 Świerczewski | 8 Kucharski | 9 Kryszałowicz | 10 Kałużny | 11 Olisadebe | 12 Majdan | 13 Głowacki | 14 Marcin Żewłakow | 15 Wałdoch | 16 Murawski | 17 A. Bąk | 18 Krzynówek | 19 Żurawski | 20 J. Bąk | 21 Koźmiński | 22 Matysek | 23 Sibik | Coach: Engel

Liverpool F.C. - Current Squad
1 Dudek | 2 Arbeloa | 3 Finnan | 4 Hyypiä | 5 Agger | 6 Riise | 7 Kewell | 8 Gerrard | 9 Fowler | 10 Luis García | 11 Mark González | 12 Fábio Aurélio | 14 Xabi Alonso | 15 Crouch | 16 Pennant | 17 Bellamy | 18 Kuyt | 20 Mascherano | 22 Sissoko | 23 Carragher | 25 Reina | 26 Anderson | 29 Paletta | 30 Padelli | 32 Zenden | 38 Lindfield | 39 Darby | 42 El Zhar | Manager: Benítez