Club career
Hajduk Split
Pletikosa began his career at
Croatian club
Hajduk Split. He was selected as first team goalkeeper for the 1998/99 season by then manager
Ivan Katalinić, replacing the ageing
Tonči Gabrić. Pletikosa's excellent reflexes and coordination lead to Hajduk fans nicknaming him 'octopus' (hobotnica). In 2002, he was named
Večernji list Croatian player of the year;
Zoran Simovic was the only goalkeeper to have won this award previously.
Shakhtar Donetsk
In 2003 Pletikosa alongside teammate
Darijo Srna transferred to
Shakhtar Donetsk for €2 million. Unlike Srna, Pletikosa did not succeed at the club, and was loaned out back to Hajduk Split in 2005. His second spell at Hajduk proved successful and earned him a starting place in Croatia's
2006 World Cup squad. Pletikosa returned to Shakhtar the following season, but found himself second choice to
Jan Laštůvka, prompting the goalkeeper to seek a move. A bid of €3 million from
Dinamo Zagreb was accepted, but Pletikosa rejected due to his loyalty to Hajduk, the club's biggest rivals. A loan move to
Fulham also failed as he could not gain a work permit.
Spartak Moscow
On 7 March, Russia's transfer deadline day, Pletikosa signed for
Spartak Moscow for a fee of €3 million, signing a three-year contract. He featured regularly for the first team until 2009, where he was less favoured by manager
Valery Karpin.
FC Rostov[edit]
On 6 August 2011, he signed two-year contract with Russian Premier League team
FC Rostov.
[4]
International career
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 had 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 Cupqualifying, 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.
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