Ivan Banović (born 1 February 1984 in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

) is a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n football

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 ...

who currently plays for

Mosor Mosor (), or Mount Mosor (''Massarus Mons''; ), is a mountain range in Croatia located near the city of Split on the Adriatic coast. It belongs to Dinaric Alps, and stretches from the pass of Klis in the northwest to the Cetina River in the sout ...

Club career

Banović started his professional career in the Croatian second division, spending the 2004–05 season with

, amassing 21 appearances before moving to

Solin Solin is a town and a suburb of Split, in Split-Dalmatia county, Croatia. It is situated right northeast of Split, on the Adriatic Sea and the river Jadro. Solin developed on the location of ancient city of ''Salona'', which was the capital o ...

for the 2005–06 season. He made a total of 43 league appearances during the two seasons, securing himself a move to the Croatian top flight in the summer of 2006, signing with Međimurje. At Međimurje, he started out as the second-choice goalkeeper, with two league appearances early in the season being his only top-flight appearances during his first season with the club. He managed to become the club's first-choice goalkeeper midway through the 2007–08 season, keeping his place despite the club's relegation from the top flight at the end of the season and going on to help them return to the top flight for the 2009–10 season. He made a total of 62 league appearances for Međimurje during his three and a half seasons with the club, 35 of which were in the top flight. In January 2010, he moved to

Croatia Sesvete NK Croatia Sesvete was a Croatian football club based in the Sesvete district of the City of Zagreb. Previous club names: NK Sljeme (1957–1988), NK Sesvete (1988–1996), NK Badel Sesvete (1996–1997), NK Sesvete (1997–1998). The club was ...

, who were bottom of the table in the Croatian First League for most of the 2009–10 season, to serve as their new first-choice goalkeeper. He appeared in all of the club's 13 matches in the second half of the 2009–10 season, but eventually could not do much to help them avoid relegation as they were not able to move away from the 16th place in the top flight. He came out of retirement in 2019 to rejoin

"Cat rescue" incident

On 23 November 2009, Banović attracted attention from the media for rescuing a lost

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

that strayed onto the pitch during a Croatian First League match between

Šibenik Šibenik (), historically known as Sebenico (), is a historic town in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka (Croatia), Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is one of the oldest Croatia, Croatian self-governing cities ...

and Međimurje. He picked up the cat and carried it off the pitch to a safe place under the scoreboard behind his goal. As a result, he was somewhat controversially booked for leaving the pitch without permission.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banovic, Ivan 1984 births Living people Footballers from Split, Croatia Men's association football goalkeepers Croatian men's footballers RNK Split players NK Mosor players NK Solin players NK Međimurje players NK Croatia Sesvete players First Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players 21st-century Croatian sportsmen