Football Flash

The Hero of Seville Helmuth Duckadam, becomes Honorary Citizen of Bucharest

Florin Orban, 23.11.2017, 13:41

Bucharest’s General Council has awarded former Romanian footballer Helmuth Duckadam the title of Honorary Citizen of Romania’s Capital City, for his contribution to and support of Romanian sports. Bucharest’s mayor Gabriela Firea mentioned about the reasons for this decision, Helmuth Duckadam’s remarkable record, made up of two national titles, the winning of one edition of Romania’s Cup and a European Champions Cup. Duckadam was dubbed “the Hero of Seville” due to his display in the 1986 European Cup Final, when his team, Steaua Bucharest, played against FC Barcelona in Seville. He saved four consecutive penalty shots in the shootout from Jose Ramon Alexanko, Angel Pedraza, Pichi Alonso and Marcos being the first one to do so in an official European competition. Steaua won the shootout 2-0, and Europes most important club trophy for the first time, and much of the credit for the surprise victory was given to Duckadam.

Helmuth Duckadam was born on April 1st, 1959, in the village of Semlac, in Arad County, western Romania. As a senior footballer, he made his debut with Division C team Constructorul Arad in 1977. In 1978, Duckadam was included in UTA Arad’s standard pool of regulars, while on September 17, 1978 he made his debut in a first-tier fixture, when UTA Arad sustained a 2-nil defeat by Targoviste Sports Club.

In 1982 Duckadam was signed up by Steaua Bucharest, a team with which he literally shot to fame. The peak of his career was on May 7, 1986, when Steaua won the a European Champions Cup, largely due to the fact that Duckadam defended all four Barcelona’s penalty shots, with which he gained a place in the history of top-flight football, as well as a place in the Book of Records. Shortly afterwards, Duckadam’s more than promising career was suddenly interrupted, because of a serious blood condition. He retired from first-class football at the age of 27, then in 1989 he returned on the pitch for two competition seasons, playing for Division B team Vagonul Arad.

Having ended his career as a footballer, Duckadam worked for a while with the Romaian Border Police. He then left for the United States, but returned to Romania after just one year. At present Duckadam is a member of FCSB’s managing board, FCSB being the new name of Steaua Bucharest.