in the spring of 1998, he became the croatian national team's third-choice goalkeeper and was also named to the final 22-man squad for the 1998 world cup finals in france, but did not play any matches at the tournament where croatia surprisingly finished third. prior to the world cup, he made his international debut by appearing as a substitute goalkeeper in the second half of croatia's friendly match against slovakia played on 29 may 1998 in pula.