Football lost a legend not even two months ago, and he deserves for you to hear his story.

Helmut Duckadam was born on the 1st of April 1959, in Semlac, Romania. Semlac is a small commune located in Arad County, in western Romania. At the time of his birth, Semlac had between 4000-6000 inhabitants in total, accounting for around 0.03% of Romania’s total population. Duckadam joined his local club, Semlecana, where he began his football career. He soon moved up to a bigger club’s academy in Școala Sportivă Gloria Arad, before moving to the largest club in his county, UTA Arad, at age 18. Now for a goalkeeper, 18 is still quite young, so Duckadam was loaned to a Romanian third division (Divizia C) club, Constructorul Arad, staying close to home.

During his time at Constructorul Arad, Duckadam was inspired to grow a moustache by former legendary Yugoslavian keeper Enver Maric. Duckdam’s moustache would become part of his legend and what he was known for. Looking at Enver Maric, I get the inspiration. This is a solid ‘stache:

After a year at Constructorul, Duckadam returned to UTA Arad, where at age 19 he made his Romanian first division debut, being subbed on for the last 20 minutes of a 2-0 loss to CS Târgoviște, but conceding no goals. UTA Arad was relegated to the second divsion at the end of his first season, but Duckadam stayed loyal to his local club, helping them achieve promotion back to the first division in two seasons. During this time, Duckadam even managed to score a goal from his own box in a game against FCM Reșița. However, after their first season back in the top flight, Arad were relegated again, and after another 6 months playing in the 2nd league, Duckadam finally said farewell to his home county and made the move to Romanian giants, FC Steaua București. At age 22, Duckadam still had his prime far ahead of him, and had to compete with two other keepers at FCSB to win the starting spot. As the starter, Duckadam won the Romanian Double in the 1984-85 season, and also made his European debut in the Cup Winners’ Cup against AS Roma. FCSB lost 1-0 on aggregate over the two legs, while Duckadam managed to save a penalty from Ubaldo Righetti in the tie. This save was the start of something bigger than anyone at FCSB could’ve imagined. The next season, Duckadam won another league title, but that was merely the footnotes of the season. In FCSB’s European Cup (now the Champions League) campaign Duckadam played all 9 matches, and what a memorable campaign this was.

Starting off with a 5-2 aggregate win over Danish side Velje Boldklub, FCSB moved on to face Budapest Honved in the second round, where they achieved a 4-2 aggregate victory after going into the 2nd leg down 1-0. In the quarterfinals, FCSB drew the easiest matchup possible fortunately, and managed to beat Finnish side Kuusysi 1-0 on aggregate, with Duckadam keeping a clean sheet across both matches. Now FCSB have made it to the semi-finals, and are two matches away from playing for a European Cup. In the first leg against Anderlecht, the Belgians came away with a 1-0 home win. FCSB needed to have a big performance at home in the 2nd leg to advance, and Duckadam kept another clean sheet in a resounding 3-0 victory in Bucharest to take FCSB to the final. In the final, the Romanians would take on FC Barcelona, who was heavily favoured to take the Cup. FCSB held Barcelona scoreless for the first 90 minutes, then through extra time. The Final was going to a penalty shootout. This, this was where Helmut Duckadam went from an excellent keeper to a Romanian folk hero.

FCSB would shoot first in the shootout, and Majearu would fail to convert his attempt, giving Barcelona the advantage. Alexanco steps up for Barcelona, and Duckadam saves the penalty, giving his club life! FCSB also fail to convert their second attempt, which generally leads to a penalty shootout loss. However, Helmut Duckadam decided otherwise, saving Barcelona’s second attempt from Pedraza. FCSB would finally convert a penalty on their third attempt, before Duckadam SAVED AGAIN from Pichi Alonso, giving FCSB a 1-0 lead in the shootout going into the fourth round. Gabi Balint converted FCSB’s fourth penalty, leaving Marcos Alonso (no not the one who played for Chelsea, but his father), needing to score to give Barcelona a chance in the final round. You already know what happens, right? Helmut Duckadam saved AGAIN. The only time in football history that a keeper had saved 4/4 penalties in a shootout, and he did it in the biggest game in Europe. FC Steaua Bucuresti stunned Barcelona, and became one of a rare group of clubs to win the European Cup/Champions’ League while playing outside of the Top 5 European leagues, with Duckadam’s heroics essentially winning the final for them. Helmut Duckadam would go on to win Romanian footballer of the year in 1986, as well as finishing tied for 8th in Ballon d’Or voting that year, alongside Marco van Basten.

However, there would be a shock ending to Duckadam’s career. In the summer of 1986 following FCSB’s European Cup victory, Duckadam suffered an accident while at a campfire in Arad. He slipped and used his right arm to break his fall, where he felt a severe pain in his hand. This would be diagnosed as a blood clot that blocked the circulation in his arm, which required an operation. Duckadam recovered from the surgery, but could no longer play football at a high level due to this injury. Duckadam took three years off football, before attempting to make a comeback with Vagonul Arad, who had just been promoted to the Romanian top flight. Duckadam stayed at Vagonul Arad for three years until 1991, before playing in the Romanian lower leagues with CPL Arad in 1994 and 1994. After this, the legend who had been decorated by the President of Romania for his achievements with FCSB called an end on what was a career that burned bright and fast. With his two comeback attempts aside, Duckadam’s career unfortunately ended the summer after his greatest achievement, at age 27. For most keepers, this is the age where they’ve just entered their prime, and have several more years at the highest level left in them. Sadly for Duckadam, he was not offered this luxury, but achieved more in his shorter career than many could’ve dreamed of.

Following his retirement from football, Duckadam worked as a major in the Romanian Border Police in his home Arad County, while opening a football academy in Arad named after himself. In the 2000’s, Duckadam followed the side quest of politics, spending the next 3 years as members of Romania’s New Generation Part and Romanian Humanist Party. In 2006, Duckadam worked as the general manager of his old club, UTA Arad, for a few months, before serving as the honorary president of FCSB from 2010 until 2020. In his final years, he would appear as a football pundit on Digi Sport’s “Fotbal Club” programme.

Helmut Duckadam died on the 2nd of December, 2024, in the Military Hospital of Bucharest, at the age of 65. Romania, goalkeepers, and football in general lost a legend. One thing that is sure, is that FCSB supporters, and all Romanians, will never forget the heroics from Helmut Duckadam that brought the country their only European Cup to date. If you’d like to watch it, I’ve included the video of the 1986 European Cup Final Penalty Shootout:

RIP Helmut, you were one of a kind.

-LM