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Stipe Pletikosa
Personal information
Full name	Stipe Pletikosa
Date of birth	January 8, 1979 (1979-01-08) (age 31)
Place of birth	Split, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Spartak Moscow
Number	22
Youth career
1986–1996	Hajduk Split
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1996–2003 2003–2007 2005–2006 2007–	Hajduk Split Shakhtar Donetsk → Hajduk Split (loan) Spartak Moscow	141 (4) 029 (0) 021 (0) 063 (0)
National team2
1999–	Croatia	081 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of November 21, 2009. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of February 2, 2010. * Appearances (Goals)

Stipe Pletikosa (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈstiːpɛ ˈplɛtikɔsa]; born 8 January 1979 in Split) is a Croatian football goalkeeper who currently plays for Russian Premier League club Spartak Moscow and the Croatian national team, for whom he made 79 appearances.^[1]

Pletikosa made his Croatia debut as a 20-year-old against Denmark in 1999, winning plaudits for his cat-like reflexes and shot-stopping. But insecurity over the handling of high balls took a heavy toll at the 2000 European under-21 championship in Slovakia, where Croatia finished last in their group after Pletikosa conceded some soft goals.

Pletikosa worked hard on improving the weaknesses in his game and under former Croatia coach Mirko Jozić, he became his country's first-choice goalkeeper, playing in all three matches at the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals. The once nervous though talented Pletikosa has blossomed, making full use of every centimetre of his 1.93-metre frame and possessing a far greater assurance when dealing with difficult high balls.

He was also supposed to be Croatia's first goalkeeper at the UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal, but sustained an injury a few days before the beginning of the tournament and the position of the team's first goalkeeper was taken by Tomislav Butina, who was up to that time his first reserve. Butina retained the position in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying, so Pletikosa appeared in only two qualifying matches. Nevertheless, when the finals tournament started, Pletikosa was chosen over Butina, who had still been recovering from an injury sustained early in the year.

At UEFA Euro 2008, he was named Man of the Match in Croatia's opening victory against Austria, in which he made many saves to help his side to hang on to a very narrow victory after the Austrians began to completely dominate the Croatian outfit after the first, and only, penalty goal.

On 16 June 2008, during the UEFA Euro 2008 match between Austria and Germany, BBC pundit Alan Hansen stated his belief that Pletikosa had been "the best goalkeeper in the (UEFA Euro 2008) tournament" thus far, ahead of more established 'keepers like Petr Čech, Gianluigi Buffon and Iker Casillas, although his colleague Alan Shearer said that Edwin van der Sar had been equally impressive. However, despite these comments, Pletikosa was not highlighted as the best goalkeeper of the tournament. Those honours went to Buffon, Casillas and van der Sar, who were the three goalkeepers named in the Team of the Tournament.

References

External links

• Stipe Pletikosa FIFA competition record
• Stipe Pletikosa statistics and biography at FootballDatabase.com
• Stipe Pletikosa at National-Football-Teams.com

Croatia squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Pletikosa • 2 Šerić • 3 Šimunić • 4 Tomas • 5 Rapaić • 6 Živković • 7 Vugrinec • 8 Prosinečki • 9 Šuker • 10 N. Kovač • 11 Bokšić • 12 Butina • 13 Stanić • 14 Soldo • 15 Šarić • 16 Vranješ • 17 Jarni • 18 Olić • 19 Vlaović • 20 Šimić • 21 R. Kovač • 22 Balaban • 23 Vasilj • Coach: Jozić

Croatia squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Pletikosa • 2 Srna • 3 Šimunić • 4 R. Kovač • 5 Tudor • 6 Vranješ • 7 Šimić • 8 Babić • 9 Pršo • 10 N. Kovač • 11 Tokić • 12 Didulica • 13 Tomas • 14 Modrić • 15 I. Leko • 16 J. Leko • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 N. Kranjčar • 20 Šerić • 21 Balaban • 22 Bošnjak • 23 Butina • Coach: Z. Kranjčar

Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Pletikosa • 2 Šimić • 3 Šimunić • 4 R. Kovač • 5 Ćorluka • 6 Vejić • 7 Rakitić • 8 Vukojević • 9 Kalinić • 10 N. Kovač • 11 Srna • 12 Galinović • 13 Pokrivač • 14 Modrić • 15 Knežević • 16 Leko • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 Kranjčar • 20 Budan • 21 Petrić • 22 Pranjić • 23 Runje • Coach: Bilić