Ćavar has stated that Veselin Vujović was a big influence on him opting to playing handball.
He played for the Croatian national team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where Croatia won the gold medal.[1] Ćavar was the top goalscorer of the Croatian national team from 1996 to 2007, when Mirza Džomba broke his record.
He is also the only Croatian handball player to have won five EHF Champions League titles.
Due to his performances in Metković Ćavar caught the eye of top-tier club RK Borac Banja Luka and moved to the club in 1989.
He spent one season with the club finishing the regular part of the season in first place and then losing to Proleter Naftagas Zrenjanin in the final of the play-offs.
By that time Ćavar and his team qualified for the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup. The club had changed its name to Zagreb-Loto due to sponsorship.
Their campaign started with a win at home and a loss away with the aggregate coming to a win of 54:48 against Dukla Liberec. The quarter-final match was played against SKIF Krasnodar, they won both matches with the result 50:44 for Zagreb. In the semi-final Zagreb-Loto won the first match against Kolding IF 26:17 and lost the second match 20:26 with this result they entered the final due to aggregate 46:43 being in their favor.
The first final match was played in Zagreb where Ćavar and his team beat TEKA Santander 22:20.[3] In the second match Zagreb-Loto destroyed TEKA Santander in big 28:18 defeat.[4] Ćavar scored 4 goals in each of the final matches.[5]
Ćavar also took the first ever Croatian domestic titles beating Zamet in the league and Coning Medveščak in the finals.
The following season Ćavar's club changed its name again due to sponsorship reasons into RK Badel 1862 Zagreb.
He was also awarded in 2000 for a then record breaking third time as the best Croatian handballer.[8] The same year Barcelona named him their best foreign player and then their best player of the season.[9]
Ćavar played at the club for four years. Even though he did not win any trophies at the club they had a solid league position and in his last season with the club they reached the quarter-final of the EHF Cup.
Agram Medveščak
In the summer of 2005 it was announced that Patrik Ćavar would be moving to Agram Medveščak though his move was slowed down due to registration problems.
On 25 October 2005 Ćavar announced that his retirement from handball due to his various injuries.[12]
Saint-Marcel Vernon
A month after announcing his retirement on November 25 Ćavar announced that he would be moving to the French second division club Saint-Marcel Vernon.[13]
Ćavar debuted for Croatia on 14 January 1991 on Croatia's first ever national team match. They played against Japan and the match ended in a draw of 23:23.[14]
His first major competition came a year later in June 1994 when he played at the 1994 European Championship. A year later he was called up to play the 1995 World Championship in Iceland. Croatia lost in the final to France and Ćavar had bagged his first silver medal for the national team.
At the 1996 European Championship in Spain, Croatia finished in fifth place. Ćavar was the second top goalscorer 40 goals just one goal behind Thomas Knorr.
Two months later history was made at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Ćavar and his teammates won the against Sweden in the final and won their first and Croatia's first ever OlympicGold medal. Ćavar was also the tournaments top goalscorer with 43 goals and he was voted the best left wing of the tournament and put in the all-star team.[15]
In 2004 he retired from the national team with 120 appearances and as the top goalscorer with 639 goals. He held the record until 2007 when Mirza Džomba broke his record.
