Tomislav Butina

Tomislav Butina (born March 30, 1974 in Zagreb, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Croatian football (soccer) goalkeeper who is currently signed by Olympiacos of the Super League Greece. Famous for his abilities to stop penalty kicks, his dominant presence reassures defenders and provides a formidable barrier for attackers. Butina is also known for being an art lover and a collector of paintings in his spare time.

Clubs

Butina became a member of Dinamo Zagreb's first team already in 1991, but since Dražen Ladić was irreplaceable as the club's first-choice goalkeeper at the time, Butina decided to go on loan to some smaller clubs in 1994 due to minimum chances to become a member of the starting eleven. He came back to Dinamo in 1997, made six Croatian First League appearances in both the 1997/98 and the 1999/00 title-winning campaigns and became the club's first-choice goalkeeper after Ladić retired in 2000. Previously, he also managed to make three appearances in the UEFA Champions League as understudy to the injured Ladić in the autumn of 1999. Butina went on to play a major role in 2000/01 as Dinamo won the championship and defeated HNK Hajduk Split over two legs in the Croatian Cup final.

He continued to play for Dinamo impress over the next two seasons, helping the club retain the cup in the first and claim another league title success until the end of the 2002-03 season , when he was transferred to the newly-crowned Belgian champions Club Brugge KV in May 2003.

He was understudy to Dany Verlinden in his 2003-04 in Belgian football but the veteran then retired, and Butina conceded just 22 goals in 33 games as Club Brugge claimed the Jupiler League title. Hit by injury in 2005-06 in Belgian football, he then joined Olympiacos CFP on a free transfer.

In early 2006, he signed a pre-contract with Olympiacos and officially became a member of the club's team on July 1, 2006. At Olympiacos, he has been the second-choice goalkeeper ever since joining the club and has only played one competitive match in the Greek Cup up to date.

As of September 2007, he is still the backup goalkeeper and doesn't look to get any time behind Antonis Nikopolidis and Michalis Sifakis.

National Team

Butina made his debut for the Croatia national football team in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) against San Marino national football team on September 5, 2001 in Serravalle, San Marino and was then also a member of the Croatian team at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where he spent all three group matches on the bench as the team's second-choice goalkeeper, as understudy for Stipe Pletikosa, but the latter's injury at 2004 UEFA European Football Championship meant Butina started all of Croatia's games.

He played all three 2004 UEFA European Football Championship - Group B as understudy to the injured Stipe Pletikosa and went on to make eight out of possible ten appearances in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA), but was left on the bench in all three 2006 FIFA World Cup - Group F after missing most of his club's matches in the spring of 2006 due to an injury and he subsequently went on to announce his retirement from international football on August 1, 2006. He won a total of 28 international caps in almost five years of playing for the Croatian national team, with his last international match being a World Cup preparation friendly against Poland national football team on June 3, 2006 in Wolfsburg, Germany. This was also the only international match he played in the year 2006.

Trivia

Butina was stripped of the Dinamo captaincy in February 2002 after breaking a media silence imposed by the club to talk about its financial problems.