Stipe Pletikosa facts for kids
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Pletikosa with Rostov in 2015
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stipe Pletikosa | ||
| Date of birth | 8 January 1979 | ||
| Place of birth | Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.93 m | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Croatia (technical director) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1986–1996 | Hajduk Split | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1996–2003 | Hajduk Split | 141 | (4) |
| 2003–2007 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 32 | (0) |
| 2005–2006 | → Hajduk Split (loan) | 21 | (0) |
| 2007–2011 | Spartak Moscow | 63 | (0) |
| 2010–2011 | → Tottenham Hotspur (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| 2011–2015 | Rostov | 110 | (0) |
| 2015–2016 | Deportivo La Coruña | 2 | (0) |
| Total | 369 | (4) | |
| National team | |||
| 1994 | Croatia U15 | 1 | (0) |
| 1994–1995 | Croatia U16 | 2 | (0) |
| 1994 | Croatia U17 | 2 | (0) |
| 1995–1997 | Croatia U18 | 2 | (0) |
| 1995–1998 | Croatia U19 | 14 | (0) |
| 1999 | Croatia U20 | 5 | (0) |
| 1998–2001 | Croatia U21 | 13 | (0) |
| 1999–2014 | Croatia | 114 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2021– | Croatia (technical director) | ||
| 2021-2023 | Croatia U21 (technical director) | ||
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Stipe Pletikosa (born on January 8, 1979) is a former professional football player from Croatia. He was a goalkeeper, which means he was the player who tries to stop the ball from going into the goal.
After he stopped playing, Stipe Pletikosa started working as a technical director for the Croatian Football Federation. This means he helps manage and guide the senior national team and the under-21 team.
Pletikosa started his playing career in Croatia with Hajduk Split. He then played for teams in Ukraine (like Shakhtar Donetsk) and Russia (like Spartak Moscow and Rostov). He even had a short time playing for Tottenham Hotspur in England. He finished his career in Spain with Deportivo de La Coruña.
Stipe Pletikosa also played for the Croatian national team many times, starting in 1999. He played in five big tournaments for his country. He is one of the players who has played the most games for Croatia, with 114 appearances. He stopped playing for the national team after the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Contents
Playing for Football Clubs
Starting with Hajduk Split
Stipe Pletikosa began his football journey at Hajduk Split, a club in Croatia. He became the main goalkeeper for the team in the 1998–99 season. Fans of Hajduk Split gave him a cool nickname: "Octopus." They called him this because he had amazing reflexes and could move his arms and legs like an octopus to stop shots.
In 2002, a magazine called Večernji list named him the Croatian Player of the Year. This was a big deal because he was one of only two goalkeepers to ever win this award.
Time with Shakhtar Donetsk
In 2003, Pletikosa moved to Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine. Another Croatian player, Darijo Srna, also joined the team at the same time. However, Pletikosa didn't have as much success there as he hoped.
So, in 2005, he went back to Hajduk Split on a loan. This return helped him play well enough to become the starting goalkeeper for Croatia in the 2006 World Cup. After that, he went back to Shakhtar, but he wasn't the first-choice goalkeeper anymore. He wanted to move to another club.
He almost joined Dinamo Zagreb, but he decided not to. This was because Dinamo Zagreb is a big rival of his old club, Hajduk Split, and he wanted to stay loyal to Hajduk. He also tried to move to Fulham in England, but he couldn't get the necessary permission to work there.
Playing for Spartak Moscow
On March 7, 2007, Stipe Pletikosa signed a three-year contract to play for Spartak Moscow in Russia. He played regularly for the team until 2009. After that, the manager started to pick him less often.
On August 31, 2010, Pletikosa went on loan to Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League. He played his first and only game for Tottenham on September 21, 2010, in a cup match against Arsenal.
In July 2011, Pletikosa tried out for Scottish Premier League club Celtic. He played in some friendly games, but the manager decided not to sign him.
Joining Rostov
On August 6, 2011, Pletikosa signed a two-year contract with Rostov, another club in the Russian Premier League. He played for Rostov for several years.
Last Club: Deportivo La Coruña
On December 20, 2015, Pletikosa signed a six-month deal with Deportivo de La Coruña in Spain's La Liga. He joined mainly to help out because their main goalkeeper was injured. After this, he retired from playing professional football.
Playing for Croatia
Early International Games
Stipe Pletikosa played his first game for the senior Croatian team when he was 20 years old, in 1999, against Denmark. People praised him for his quick reflexes and ability to stop shots.
However, he had some trouble with high balls during the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. He worked hard to get better at this. Under the coach Mirko Jozić, he became Croatia's main goalkeeper and played in all three matches at the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals. He used his height (1.93 meters) to handle difficult crosses.
Major Tournaments
Pletikosa was supposed to be Croatia's main goalkeeper for UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal. But he got injured just before the tournament started. Another goalkeeper, Tomislav Butina, took his place. Butina also remained the number one goalkeeper during the qualifying games for the 2006 World Cup. However, Pletikosa was chosen to play in the World Cup finals because Butina was recovering from an injury.
At Euro 2008, Pletikosa was named the best player of the match in Croatia's first game against Austria. He made many great saves to help Croatia win 1–0. Some football experts even said he was the best goalkeeper in the tournament at that point.
Later Career and Retirement
On February 6, 2013, Pletikosa played his 100th international game for Croatia. He didn't let any goals in, and Croatia won 4–0 against South Korea.
In the first game of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, on June 12, Croatia played against the host country, Brazil. The score was 1–1 when Brazil was given a penalty kick. Pletikosa touched the ball from Neymar's shot, but he couldn't stop it from going into the net. Croatia ended up losing the game 3–1.
After the World Cup, on July 17, 2014, Stipe Pletikosa announced that he was retiring from playing for the national team.
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Personal Life
Stipe Pletikosa is a Roman Catholic. When he played, he was known to wear a T-shirt with a picture of the Virgin Mary under his uniform. He did this for good luck.
Honours
Stipe Pletikosa won many awards and trophies during his career:
Hajduk Split
- Prva HNL: 2000–01 (Croatian League Champion)
- Croatian Cup: 1999–2000, 2002–03 (Croatian Cup Winner)
Shakhtar Donetsk
- Vyshcha Liha: 2004–05 (Ukrainian League Champion)
- Ukrainian Super Cup: 2005 (Ukrainian Super Cup Winner)
Rostov
- Russian Cup: 2013–14 (Russian Cup Winner)
Individual Awards
- Heart of Hajduk Award: 2000, 2002
- Prva HNL Player of the Year: 2001, 2002
- Croatian Footballer of the Year: 2002
Images for kids
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Pletikosa playing for Spartak Moscow in 2008
See also
In Spanish: Stipe Pletikosa para niños
- List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
