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Jerzy Dudek (born March 23, 1973 in Rybnik,
Poland) is a Poland|Polish football
(soccer)|football player. He is currently playing
as a goalkeeper for Liverpool F.C. and has the
squad number 1.

Signed by Liverpool on August 31, 2001 as a
replacement for Sander Westerveld, Dudek also
plays regularly for the Poland national football
team|Polish national team. After suffering a
stressful Wc|2002 Dudek was dropped from the
Liverpool team after several bad performances in
the FA Premier league|English Premier League
(especially after a number of errors against
Manchester United F.C. on December 1, 2002) but
has since regained his place in the team after
Chris Kirkland suffered an injury.

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

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 a goal which would almost
certainly have been the match winner. Dudek helped
to win the trophy for Liverpool with two saves in
the penalty shoot-out. Prior to each of the Milan
penalties, Dudek performed a variety of movements
in an attempt to distract the penalty takers.

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 Champions League Final after provoking
Francesco Graziani to miss by wobbling his legs in
mock fear.

Dudek married his wife Mirella (b. December 1974)
in June 1996, and they have one son, Alexander,
born in December of that year.