Jerzy Dudek

Early years

Born in Rybnik, Dudek began playing football at 12 for Górnik Knurów. Six years later, he made his senior debut with the renamed Concordia in the third division, where he set a record of 416 minutes without conceding a goal. Dudek only played one season in the Ekstraklasa, 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 age 23, joining Feyenoord, but had to wait a year before he made his debut, proceeding to appear in all Eredivisie matches the following four campaigns. He won the national championship in 1998–99 along with the subsequent edition of the Johan Cruyff Shield, after a 3–2 win over Ajax. Dudek won the Dutch Golden Shoe award in 2000, becoming the first foreign player to achieve this. Also that year, he was voted Polish Footballer of the Year. On 26 August 2001, Dudek made his final appearance for the Rotterdam side, a 2–1 home loss also against Ajax.

Liverpool

Dudek and fellow goalkeeper Chris Kirkland joined Liverpool in late August 2001. Despite the latter being the more expensive of the two, the former immediately replaced incumbent goalkeeper Sander Westerveld as coach Gérard Houllier's first-choice and, 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…

Dudek received his first call-up for Poland in 1996 as an unused substitute during an exhibition game against Russia in Moscow. He won his first cap in February 1998 in another friendly with Israel, and 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 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 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. 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. Following the World Cup, Dudek returned to the national team to play in two fixtures under new boss Beenhakker, a 2–0 friendly defeat in Denmark and a 1–3 UEFA Euro…

In 2014, Dudek completed his first full season in the Volkswagen Castrol Cup, a racing championship held at circuits around Eastern Europe during the summer months.

Dudek and his wife, Mirella, had one son, Aleksander, and two daughters, Victoria 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 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. Dudek was number 13 from 2009 to 2010 under Manuel Pellegrini, 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 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 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. Dudek also stated he would like to start a…