Career
He has made five appearances for the Croatia national football team In 1992 Rukavina started his football career in his hometown of Osijek, before moving to NK Zagreb during his second season. He played four seasons in Italy for South.S.C. Venezia before returning to his homeland and finishing his career at Hajduk Split.
He became first team coach at Dinamo Zagreb in March 2009., after arriving of Krunoslav Jurčić.