Petar Borota

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Petar Borota
Personal information
Date of birth	March 5, 1952 (1952-03-05) (age 56)
Place of birth	Belgrade, FPR Yugoslavia
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1969-1975 1976-1978 1978-1982 1982-1982 1982-1983 1983-1984	OFK Beograd Partizan Belgrade Chelsea Brentford Portimonense Boavista	131 (0) 77 (0) 107 (0) 0 (0) 7 (0) 15 (0)
National team
1977-78	Yugoslavia	4 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Petar Borota (born 5 March 1952 in Belgrade, Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a retired Serbian footballer who played as a goalkeeper, most notably for Chelsea.

He signed for Chelsea from Partizan Belgrade in March 1979 for £70,000 with the club on the verge of relegation from the First Division. He made his debut against champions-elect Liverpool and impressed in a 0-0 draw but ultimately couldn't prevent relegation to the Second Division. He had a flamboyant and somewhat eccentric style - on occasions, he would dribble up the field and attempt to get past opposition players or throw the ball against the crossbar when taking a goal kick - which endeared him to the Chelsea fans and helped make him a cult hero at the club. He was voted Chelsea player of the year in 1981 after keeping 16 clean sheets that season.

However, his erratic behaviour sometimes backfired and led to the team conceding goals, which did not endear him to his managers. After a fall-out with John Neal he joined Brentford in 1982 and later Portuguese sides SL Benfica and FC Porto. He made 114 appearances for Chelsea and kept 36 clean sheets.

Borota was later caught up in an art forgery scam.