Photo: Steaua Bucharest football team won the European Champions' Cup, beating FC Barcelona in Seville 2-0, after penalties. It was then that goalkeeper Helmuth Duckadam succeeded in saving 4 consecutive penalties, making an impressive entry in the record books.(enlarge photo)
Guinness World Records also recognized Helmuth Duckadam's performance for saving four consecutive penalties.
The Guinness world record for the most goals scored by a professional football (soccer) goalkeeper is 93, by Rogério Ceni (Brazil) for São Paulo Football Club, Brazil, from 1997 to 2010.
Steaua Bucharest football team won the European Champions' Cup in 1986, beating FC Barcelona in Seville 2-0, after penalties. It was then that goalkeeper Helmuth Duckadam succeeded in saving 4 consecutive penalties.
It's been 25 years since Steaua won the European Champions Cup (one of the most memorable finals when Duckadam defended 4 straight penalties).
The hero of the match was the Romanian goalie, Helmut Duckadam: he saved all the Spanish penalties. The final result was 2-0 for Steaua and Bucharest saw the biggest celebrations until the 1989 Revolution.
Helmut Duckadam, the mustachioed keeper who saved all four Barcelona spot kicks, is still remembered by Catalans. People remember that Barcelona were huge favourites that night but they ended up in dreadful shape. And what made it worse was the fact the game took place in Spain.
World Record Academy's Sports Editor, Ramona Nita (former National Athlete Champion), says: "Helmuth Duckadam's performance is comparable to Nadia Comaneci's amazing 'Perfect 10' score at the Montreal Olympic Games."
"The lesson to learn is that even during their hardest times (back then: the 'darkest years' of communism and now the world's crisis), people can rise up against dificulties through hard work, over the top performance and by promoting the real values."
In addition, from June 1986 to September 1989, Steaua Bucharest ran a record 104-match undefeated streak in the championship, setting a world record for that time and a European one still standing.
The world record for the most penalties saved in a shoot-out is also held by Helmuth Duckadam of FC Steaua Bucureşti and Ciaran Kelly Sligo Rovers F.C .
Duckadam defended four consecutive penalties in the European Champions' Cup Final against FC Barcelona, on 7 May 1986.
Kelly saved four consecutive penalties in the Ford FAI Cup Final for Sligo Rovers versus Shamrock Rovers on November 14th 2010.
Duckadam was decorated by the president of Romania with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" — ("The Sportive Merit" Order - class II), for his part in winning the of 1986 European Cup.
He was recently named Steaua's president.
Steaua Bucharest football team won the European Champions' Cup, beating FC Barcelona in Seville 2-0, after penalties. It was then that goalkeeper Helmuth Duckadam succeeded in saving 4 consecutive penalties, making an impressive entry in the record books.(
