PRAGUE: Former Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic and West Ham goalkeeper Ludek Miklosko has died. He was 64.
His death was announced on Monday by his family and by Banik Ostrava, the Czech club where Miklosko spent eight years before moving to England and where he served as sporting director despite fighting cancer the last five years.
Miklosko joined West Ham in February 1990, becoming the first Czech to make an impact in the English football after the 1989 Velvet Revolution that ended the communist rule in Czechoslovakia, and made 373 appearances for the club.
He was voted West Ham’s player of the year following his first season, helping it secure promotion to the English top flight.
He was loved by supporters, who would sing at matches “My name is Ludek Miklosko, I come from near Moscow, I play in goal for West Ham.” He could speak only a few English words when he arrived in England.
“Rest in peace Ludek, our beloved, inspirational goalkeeper and gentle giant of a man,” West Ham said in a statement.
The club said Miklosko will be honoured before Tuesday’s League Cup third-round match against Fulham and also the Championship game against Queens Park Rangers on Oct. 9.
Miklosko moved to QPR in 1998 before retiring in 2001. Then, he returned to London to coach West Ham’s goalkeepers until 2010.
He also played 42 international games for Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.
During his last visit to England in December 2024 to attend a game against Liverpool at the London Stadium, he confirmed he was diagnosed cancer and said in a statement he decided to withdraw from treatment.
“I decided not to take the chemotherapy, because I want to live a normal life,” he said. “I have very good people around me, and I have my work and my football, which is my life, all I have known. I want to keep doing that for as long as I can.”
Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak, a die-hard Banik Ostrava fan, joined the mourners.
“We’ll never forget…You were fighting till the end.”
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