West Ham to honor Luděk Mikloško at London Stadium
On Friday, the London Stadium will stop to remember one of the most loved goalkeepers in West Ham United’s history. Before the Hammers host Queens Park Rangers, the club will pay tribute to Luděk Mikloško, who died on 14 September at the age of 64 after a long battle with cancer.
For 373 appearances, across eight seasons, and with 125 clean sheets along the way, he was the man between the sticks. To the Claret and Blue Army, he was simply “Ludo.”
Mikloško arrived in February 1990 from Baník Ostrava, where he had played since 1982. He was the first Czech footballer to make a real impact in English football after the Velvet Revolution ended communist rule in Czechoslovakia, and he did it with only a handful of English words to his name.
He made his debut in a 2-2 draw at Swindon on 18 February 1990, took over from the great Phil Parkes, and never really gave the shirt back until late 1997.
His first full season set the tone. In 1990/91 he was an ever-present, kept 25 clean sheets in 56 appearances across all competitions, and matched Parkes’s club record of 22 league clean sheets. Supporters voted him Hammer of the Year, and West Ham went up.
Promotion came again in 1993, and Mikloško was a constant as the club found its feet in the Premier League. Few goalkeepers in the club’s history can match his total of 125 clean sheets.
On the final day of the 1994/95 season, with nothing left to play for, Mikloško produced a Man of the Match display in a 1-1 draw with Manchester United. The point kept Sir Alex Ferguson’s side from the title and handed it to Blackburn Rovers. It remains one of the defining afternoons of his West Ham career.
Supporters have sung his name at West Ham matches ever since, long after he left. The chant, a cheerful nod to the Czech keeper’s unlikely journey from near Moscow to the West Ham goal, has been heard at every game. In February this year, Hammers fans honoured him with a stunning tifo.
Ludo after West Ham
Mikloško left West Ham in 1998 for QPR, where he finished his playing career in 2001, and later returned to East London to coach the club’s goalkeepers until 2010. He earned 42 caps for Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic and played at the 1990 World Cup. Back in his homeland, he joined the board at Baník Ostrava in 2022 as sporting director.
His influence reached well beyond one club. Petr Čech credited him with opening the door to English football for the Czech goalkeepers who followed.
West Ham described him as a “gentle giant of a man.” His son, Martin, said the family was heartbroken, thanked supporters for their messages during his illness, and said his father loved the club and, above all, hearing his name sung at every match. Mikloško was diagnosed in 2021 and chose in 2024 to stop chemotherapy so he could enjoy his time.
The club held a period of appreciation before the League Cup tie with Fulham on Tuesday 15 September. On Friday, the tribute will come against QPR, the club where he finished his playing career, which feels fitting.
If you are at the London Stadium, be in your seats early. And when the moment comes, you know what to sing.
Rest in peace, Ludo.
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