Tomislav Piplica (born 5 April 1969) is a Bosnian

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

who formerly played as

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 ...

. His nickname is "Pipi" and he is considered to be a ''cult-goalkeeper'', in Germany as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Playing career

Club

Piplica has played in his career for

NK Iskra Bugojno NK Iskra, commonly known as Iskra Bugojno or just Iskra (meaning "spark" in Bosnian) is a professional association football club from the town of Bugojno that is situated in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. Iskra plays its home matches on the ...

NK Zagreb Nogometni klub Zagreb (''Zagreb Football Club''), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (), is a Croatian football club based in the capital city of Zagreb. It currently competes in the fifth tier league competition of Croatian footbal ...

NK Istra 1961 Nogometni klub Istra 1961 (), commonly referred to as Istra 1961, is a Croatian professional football club based in Pula, that competes in the Croatian First League. It is a common opinion amongst many people that ''Istra 1961'' was founded i ...

HNK Segesta Hrvatski nogometni klub Segesta Sisak ( English: ''Croatian Football Club Segesta Sisak''), commonly referred to as HNK Segesta Sisak or simply Segesta Sisak is a Croatian professional football club located in the city of Sisak. It is named after ...

, NK Samobor and

FC Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

. He is famous not only as a cult-goalkeeper. but also for well known goalkeeping blunders. He is especially well remembered for his

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

against

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

in 2002, in which he appeared to head the ball into his own net, after standing rooted to his line. In this particular game Energie Cottbus was leading 3–2, but with four minutes to go, Piplica's howler leveled the game at 3–3, and it finished that way. Nevertheless, Piplica has a cult status with Energie fans, who nicknamed him "Pipi", and for the club president Ulrich Lepsch who claims that he was always special with special status in Cottbus. Until the end of 2012, Piplica held the post of sports director of SC Hartenfels Torgau 04 and he also helped as a coach. On 9 November 2012, Piplica announced at the age of 43 years his playing comeback as a goalkeeper in the sixth division side FC Eilenburg, as their goalkeeper had broken his arm in an accident.

International

As a teenager Piplica was part of the Yugoslavian squad that won the 1987 FIFA Under-20 World Cup. However, as a backup goalkeeper to

Dragoje Leković Dragoje Leković ( sr-Cyrl, Драгоје Лековић, ; born 21 November 1967) is a retired professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Club career Leković was born in Siva ...

, he didn't get a single minute of action throughout the six matches. Piplica made his senior debut for

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

in a March 2001 World Cup qualification match against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in Sarajevo and has earned a total of 8 caps. His final international was an August 2002

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

Serbia and Montenegro The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

Coaching career

After retiring he was named as scout and goalkeeper coach of his last club

on 24 June 2009. On 12 February 2010, he was additionally named as the new goalkeeper coach of the

Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team The Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team (; ; ) represents Bosnia and Herzegovina in men's international Association football, football competitions, and is governed by the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Until 1992 Bo ...

. On 15 October 2013, Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for

FIFA World Cup 2014 The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. On 5 January 2010, Piplica received his

UEFA Pro Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...

Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Nogometni/Fudbalski Savez Bosne i Hercegovine (N/FSBiH); Ногометни/Фудбалски Савез Босне и Херцеговине (Н/ФСБиХ), (FSBiH); unified abbreviation N/FS ...

's educational facility in

Jablanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina Jablanica ( sr-cyrl, Јабланица) is a town and municipality located in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the Neretva river and Jablanica lak ...

. Besides Bosnia, as a head coach, he coached

FC Eilenburg FC Eilenburg is a German association football club from the city of Eilenburg, Saxony. History The association was created 1 January 1994 as the successor side to ''Sportverein Mörtitz''. The new club joined the Landesliga Sachsen (V) on the ...

, SC Hartenfels Torgau 04,

FSV Wacker 90 Nordhausen FSV Wacker 90 Nordhausen is a German association football club from Nordhausen, Thuringia. The club's greatest success has been promotion to the Regionalliga Nordost in 1995 and 2013. It has also won the Thuringia Cup on four occasions and, th ...

as well as the reserves of

SpVgg Bayreuth SpVgg Bayreuth is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Bayreuth, Bavaria. Apart from coming within two games of earning promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979, the club also reached the quarter finals of the DFB-Pokal twice, in 1977 ...

. He also worked as a youth team coach at Carl Zeiss Jena. In February 2024, he became caretaker manager of

1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig 1. Fußballclub Lokomotive Leipzig e.V. is a German football club based in the locality of Probstheida in the Südost borough of Leipzig, Saxony. The club was previously known as VfB Leipzig and was the first national champion of Germany. It h ...

Personal life

He holds dual Bosnian and

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 citizenship. His son Zak Paulo Piplica is footballer and plays for

Honours

Player

Iskra Bugojno *

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

(West): 1983–84 *

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called Coupe de l'Europe Centrale, Mitteleuropäischer Pokal or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European association football, football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the suc ...

: 1984–85 Zagreb *

: 1990–91 *

Yugoslav Third League Yugoslav Third League (; sr-Cyrl, 3. савезна лига) was the third tier football league of SFR Yugoslavia. The top clubs were promoted to the second tier, the Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna l ...

(West): 1989–90 Yugoslavia Youth *

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Piplica, Tomislav 1969 births Living people Footballers from Bugojno Men's association football goalkeepers Yugoslav men's footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina men's footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina men's international footballers NK Iskra Bugojno players NK Zagreb players NK Istra players HNK Segesta players NK Samobor players FC Energie Cottbus players Second Football League (Croatia) players First Football League (Croatia) players Croatian Football League players 2. Bundesliga players Bundesliga players Landesliga players Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Germany Bosnia and Herzegovina football managers Association football goalkeeping coaches FC Eilenburg players