Damir Botonjič (born 14 September 1981) is a retired Slovenian football goalkeeper.

Club career

Botonjič started his career at local side Svoboda. After one year in Gorica, he signed with Turkish side Gençlerbirliği. The first two seasons he played in the PAF league, appearing in 52 matches. He made his

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

debut in October 2002 against

Denizlispor Denizlispor, due to current sponsorship Altaş Denizlispor, is a Turkish sports club based in Denizli. It is known by its distinct green and black colors. The club's branches include football, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, and gymnastics. ...

. Next season was his most successful in Turkey. He played in 19

and 5

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

matches and had an important role in a successful

Uefa Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

run. In February 2005, he signed with

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

. He made 14 appearances in Prva Liga, before leaving for another Ljubljana side, Svoboda. He returned in the second part of the 2008-09 season, making 11 appearances for Livar. On 14 July 2009, he signed a contract with Olimpija Ljubljana.

International career

Botonjič was a member of the Slovenia U21 team. He made his only appearance for

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

on 31 March 2004 in a friendly match against

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Personal life

His elder brother Nedžad, also a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, died during a training session in February 2005.

References

External links

Player profile
at PrvaLiga
Player profile
at TFF {{DEFAULTSORT:Botonjic, Damir 1981 births Living people Footballers from Ljubljana Slovenian footballers Association football goalkeepers Slovenian expatriate footballers ND Gorica players Gençlerbirliği S.K. footballers NK Ljubljana players NK Svoboda Ljubljana players NK Ivančna Gorica players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (2005) players Süper Lig players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Slovenian Second League players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Slovenia youth international footballers Slovenia under-21 international footballers Slovenia international footballers