Hamburg/Leverkusen Butt started his professional career with modest
Oldenburg, achieving promotion to the
second division in 1996. He moved to
Hamburg in the 1997 summer and, in
his second season, scored seven goals for the team – all from the
penalty spot – adding nine in similar fashion
the following campaign. Butt joined
Bayer Leverkusen on a
free transfer in 2001, being the side's undisputed starter in the subsequent campaigns (he only missed one
Bundesliga match in his first five seasons combined and added seven goals), and appeared in all the games (17) for a team that lost to
Real Madrid in the
2001–02 UEFA Champions League final, scoring a penalty in a 3–1 home win against
Juventus in the second group stage. In
2003–04, after scoring a penalty in an away match against
Schalke 04 on 17 April 2004, Butt turned away from midfield and began to enthusiastically celebrate with his teammates. He did not notice the whistle for the restart of the game and continued to celebrate. Schalke player
Mike Hanke took the opportunity to shoot from the halfway line and scored while Butt was still jogging back to his position.
Benfica After losing Leverkusen's nets to the young
René Adler during the
2006–07 season, Butt decided to cancel the contract that linked him to the club until 2009, activating a clause that allowed him to leave the club should he fail to appear in more than half of the games during the second half of the campaign. In July 2007, he signed a two-year deal with Portuguese club
Benfica. Butt made his
Eagles debut in the summer tournament of
Torneio de Guadiana, held between Benfica,
Sporting CP and
Real Betis. In the competition, he saved a penalty against Betis, helping Benfica with the final win. At the
Lisbon outfit, however, he played understudy to
Portuguese international Quim, being used in the
domestic cup matches. He only made one
league appearance for Benfica, coming on as a
substitute after Quim was
sent off against
C.S. Marítimo in October 2007 – in this match, he saved a penalty from
Ariza Makukula with his first touch of the game, and his team eventually won 2–1.
Bayern Munich On 4 June 2008, Butt signed a two-year contract with
reigning champions Bayern Munich and was expected to act as backup to
Oliver Kahn's heir, highly rated young
Michael Rensing. He made his official debut for the club in the
Champions League round-of-16 second leg against
Sporting CP in a 7–1 home drubbing, on 10 March 2009. With Rensing dropped to the bench following a 5–1 loss at
Wolfsburg, he also started the remaining games of
the season, as the initial first-choice was also nursing a
hand injury. After the team's poor start to the
2009–10 season with Rensing in goal, Butt was reinstated as the first-choice. On 8 December 2009, he scored his first goal for the club, a crucial penalty in the club's last
Champions League group stage match at Juventus, coming from behind to a 4–1 victory – after this feat, he has managed to score a goal against Juventus in the Champions League for all three major German clubs he represented. On 30 January 2010, Butt missed out on the opportunity to score his first league goal for Bayern as his penalty was saved by
1. FSV Mainz 05's
Heinz Müller, but it proved to be of no detriment to the club as it won 3–0. On 16 February, he was rewarded for an outstanding season with a contract extension until 2011. He was also in goal for the
Champions League final, where his team was denied an historic
treble after losing 0–2 to
Inter Milan. Midway through the
2010–11 season, 36-year-old Butt lost his starting place to another club youth graduate,
Thomas Kraft. However, a series of unconvincing displays by the youngster, including a 2–3 home loss against Inter Milan in the
Champions League Round of 16 on 15 March 2011, and a 1–1 away draw with
1. FC Nürnberg on 9 April, paved the way for the veteran to return to the starting line-up, which happened on 17 April, in a 5–1 home victory over former club Bayer Leverkusen, and he still appeared in 30 official games during the campaign (23 in the league), as his team finished in third position. On 3 May 2011, Butt signed a one-year extension to his contract with Bayern, backing up newly signed
Manuel Neuer. He retired at the end of
the season at the age of 38, after a
friendly with the
Netherlands on 22 May 2012 in which he acted as
captain. == International career ==