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

Club career

Botonjič started his career at local side

Svoboda Svoboda () means "freedom" in various Slavic languages. It may refer to: People * Svoboda (surname) Organizations Media * Radio Svoboda, operated by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty * ''Svoboda'' (newspaper), a daily Ukrainian language newspa ...

. 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''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

debut in October 2002 against

Denizlispor 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. The Denizli Atatürk Stadium, which has a seati ...

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

and 5

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup () 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''. Now Ziraat Bankası is ...

matches and had an important role in a successful

Uefa Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

run. In February 2005, he signed with

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

. He made 14 appearances in Prva Liga, before leaving for another Ljubljana side,

. 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, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

on 31 March 2004, coming on as a 73rd-minute substitute for

Marko Simeunovič Marko Simeunovič (born 6 December 1967) is a former Slovenian footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He represented his country at two major tournaments, Euro 2000 and the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Club career He started his football career at his ...

Personal life

His elder brother Nedžad, also a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

, died during a training session in February 2005.

References

External links

NZS profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Botonjic, Damir 1981 births Living people Footballers from Ljubljana Men's association football goalkeepers Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers Slovenia men's international 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 Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey