Retirement usually marks the point in a soccer player's life when they tend to wind down after years of sacrifice and physical and mental exhaustion, but that’s not the case for one of the Reds ’ most legendary goalkeepers.
Etched into Liverpool history for his role as the penalty shootout hero in Istanbul, Jerzy Dudek has chased the adrenaline rush in his post-soccer life. The 2005 Champions League winner hung up his gloves in 2011 at Real Madrid, before returning to make his Poland national team farewell in 2013.
Dudek’s career switch saw him able to live out his second passion of racing which his soccer venture had restricted. Appearing in an episode of ‘Added Time’ on LFCTV, Dudek said. "Motor racing was my passion before football. I raced go-karts but of course that stopped when I became a professional footballer. When I quit football I also missed the adrenaline you got from playing.”
The Pole arrived at Anfield in 2001 from Dutch club Feyenoord and held the first-choice keeper position under Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez until the arrival of Pepe Reina just weeks after his triumph in Istanbul. Dudek retired in 2011 at Real Madrid having joined the Spanish giants as backup for Iker Casillas, and wasted no time in his new venture.
Dudek raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and won his first trophy in the Class 2 Championship of the German Touring Car Masters series in 2013. "It really is like a footballer’s life,” he added. “You have the discipline, you have a mental coach and someone who’s analyzing your performances...there are similarities between playing in goal and racing a car."
The 60-time Poland international took to the track again and won the Slovakia Ring in Bratislava in successive years in 2017 and 2018, later finishing in 6th place in the FNVL Varin Race Marathon in 2019. “I’m taking in new tactics about cars, about different tracks,” Dudek previously said. “Of course there are times when I ask myself why I’m doing this.
“I have a wife and three kids at home - a very nice life, and when you lose control or focus in the car you can really get into trouble. But you need passions in life - they are what keep you going. Motor racing gives me a lot of joy and I’m loving it."
Now 51, Dudek still has a racing profile on the Driver Database having competed in the Volkswagen Golf Cup in his homeland. "This is my hobby and my passion now. It’s too late for me to be a professional racing driver, so I know my level and I know how good I am and I always approach things with joy, with laughter and also focus because it has to be serious too," he added.
"You can leave the funny things for outside of the car, but when you close the door and it’s just you and the car, with 100 cars around you on the track then you think 'wow, this is serious now, it’s not a joke anymore'."
Dudek played 186 games in total for the Reds across six years in Merseyside. Alongside the Istanbul Miracle, Dudek also lifted the FA Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Community Shield with Liverpool.
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