butina went on to make his full international debut for croatia in their 2002 fifa world cup qualifier against san marino on 5 september 2001 in serravalle which croatia won 4–0. butina won a total of 28 international caps in almost five years of playing for the croatian national football team. he made his last international appearance in croatia's 1–0 defeat to poland in a friendly match played on 3 june 2006 in wolfsburg during the two teams' preparations for the 2006 fifa world cup tournament. it was his only international appearance in 2006.