Early career Papac started his career with
Široki Brijeg in the
Bosnian Premier League in 2000. He made fourteen league appearances, scoring once for the club. He then moved to Austria with
Kärnten a year later. Papac spent three years with Kärnten, making 100 appearances and scoring on three occasions. When Kärnten were relegated from the
Austrian Bundesliga in
2004 he joined
Austria Wien. While in Vienna he made 76 appearances (with three goals) and won the league in 2006. He was also part of the side which won successive
Austrian Cups in 2005 and 2006.
Rangers He signed for
Rangers on 31 August 2006 for a fee of £450,000. He became Rangers' third signing from Austria Vienna in the 2006 summer transfer window, after
Libor Sionko and
Filip Šebo. Papac made his debut for Rangers on 17 September 2006, coming on as a half time substitute for
Steven Smith in a
Scottish Premier League game against
Hibernian. The side went on to lose the match 2–1. With the arrival of
Walter Smith in January 2007, Papac lost his place in the first team. He struggled to get into the side, making only one appearance in over two months, but returned towards the end of the season on the left side of defence. He was linked with a move to French club
Saint-Etienne in the summer but rejected it in order to claim a first-team spot. He spent the early part of his career as a
central defender but during his six-year stint at Rangers developed into a left-back. In the
2007–08 season Papac was a regular at left-back and played in the
Scottish Cup,
League Cup and
UEFA Cup finals. Papac netted his first goal for Rangers on his 83rd appearance for the club, during a league match against
Dundee United on 4 November 2008. He signed a two-year contract extension in November 2008 that would keep him at the club until the summer of 2011. In season 2008–09, Papac made 39 appearances and won both the League and Scottish Cup. Papac made 46 appearances the following season and won the League for the second consecutive time along with the League Cup. During an
Old Firm defeat to Celtic on 2 March 2011, Papac was knocked out after being hit in the face by a strike from
Mark Wilson. Papac signed a new one-year contract extension with Rangers just two days after helping the club to a third consecutive championship. On 4 May 2012, Papac revealed that he would be leaving Rangers at the end of the season.
Retirement On 28 August 2012, Papac announced his retirement from professional football for health reasons, after failing to recover properly from a groin injury. ==International career==