As a player, he played as a defender and is best remembered for his eight-year spells in the Maltese Premier League with Sliema Wanderers and Floriana.
A sweeper, Buttigieg began his career at hometown Maltese Premier League club Sliema Wanderers at age 16.
[8] He made 19 appearances in what remained of the 1988–89 season and was a part of the Bees' run to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, where they were knocked out by Liverpool.
[8] The departure of Perryman as manager and his replacement Phil Holder's tactical change to a long ball game saw Buttigieg further frozen out and after being transfer-listed in November 1990,[11] he was released in May 1991.
[14][15] After a transfer dispute with former club Sliema Wanderers saw Buttigieg designated a free agent, he returned to the Maltese Premier League to sign for Floriana in 1991.
[2] In the 1993–94 season, Buttigieg was part of the Floriana team which was the first (and as of 2014, only) Maltese club to qualify for the first round proper of the Champions League.
[24] Buttigieg made his senior international debut on 23 May 1984, in a 1986 FIFA World Cup qualifier away to Sweden, which resulted in a 4–0 defeat.
[25] In an interview in May 2001, Buttigieg revealed he felt he "wasn't treated well" by the Malta Football Association as he was denied a chance to reach 100 caps, despite three additional friendlies being scheduled to take place after the England game.
[33] Buttigieg was joined by assistant manager Carmel Busuttil and both signed a five-year contract with the Malta Football Association.
[34] The final two games of Malta's 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign resulted in defeats to Sweden and Portugal and the team finished bottom of its group.
[35] After losing 15 of his first 17 games, Buttigieg secured his second win in international management with a 2–1 friendly victory over the Central African Republic on 10 August 2011.
[36] Together with Carmel Busuttil, Buttigieg returned to Birkirkara to take charge of the Maltese Premier League club's academy in December 2011.
[41] A failure to win any further silverware and a second-successive mid-table finish at the end of the 2017–18 season led to Buttigieg's departure by mutual consent in January 2019.