Željko Pavlović

Željko Pavlović
Personal information
Date of birth	2 March 1971 (age 53)
Place of birth	Sarajevo, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team
1989–1992	Željezničar
1992–1994	Croatia Zagreb
1994–1996	NK Zagreb
1996–1997	FC Linz
1997–2001	LASK
2001–2003	Anderlecht
2003–2004	Austria Salzburg
2004	FC Kärnten
2004–2008	Wacker Innsbruck
2009	Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Total
International career
1996–2001	Croatia
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Željko Pavlović (born 2 March 1971) is a retired Croatian football goalkeeper.

Club career

Pavlović started his professional career in 1989 at the club FK Željezničar from Bosnia and Herzegovina and transferred after three seasons to Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb, where he spent one season as understudy to Dražen Ladić and made three domestic league appearances before leaving the club for their city rivals NK Zagreb in the summer of 1994. He spent two seasons with Zagreb as the club's first-choice goalkeeper and then he moved abroad by signing with Austrian club FC Linz for the 1996–97 season. He subsequently continued to play for LASK Linz after FC Linz merged with the club in the summer of 1997.

At club level, Pavlović played for LASK Linz until the end of the 2000–01 season and then he left the club for RSC Anderlecht from Belgium. However, he never managed to establish himself as the first-choice goalkeeper in the Anderlecht team in both of the two seasons he spent there and returned to Austria by signing with Wüstenrot Salzburg in July 2003. He spent only one half-season with Salzburg and went on to play for FC Kärnten until the end of the 2003–04 season. In July 2004, Pavlović signed with Wacker Tirol and has been the club's first-choice goalkeeper ever since, making a total of 57 Bundesliga appearances until the end of the 2005–06 season.^[1]

International career

Pavlović made his debut for the Croatia national team playing as the team's substitute goalkeeper in the second half of their friendly match against Israel on 26 March 1996 in Varaždin. He subsequently had to wait for more than three years to win his second international cap for the team, playing all 90 minutes in a friendly match against France on 13 November 1999 at the Stade de France. In 2000, he made three appearances for Croatia in international friendlies before he went on to play the only competitive international match in his career, playing all 90 minutes against Scotland in the Croatia national team's second qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup on 11 October 2000 in Zagreb.^[2] He made his last appearance for the Croatia national team in their friendly match against Greece on 25 April 2001 in Varaždin.^[3] Pavlović won a total of seven international caps for Croatia.

References

^ "Zickler na tronu naslijedio Bazinu". Net.hr (in Croatian). Adriatic Media. 30 November 2006. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
^ "Clockwatch: Croatia 1-1 Scotland". BBC News. 11 October 2000. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
^ "Player Database". EU-football. Retrieved 13 November 2022.