Nicolas Lombaerts

Nicolas Lombaerts
Lombaerts with Zenit in 2016
Personal information
Full name Nicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts[1]
Date of birth (1985-03-20) 20 March 1985 (age 39)
Place of birth Bruges, Belgium
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Centre-back
Team information
Current team
 Gent (assistant)
Youth career
1991–2004 Club Brugge
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2007 Gent 76 (1)
2007–2017 Zenit Saint Petersburg 196 (9)
2017–2019 KV Oostende 52 (1)
2019–2020 KV Oostende B 22 (1)
Total 346 (12)
International career
2006–2016 Belgium 39 (3)
Managerial career
2021– Gent (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts (born 20 March 1985) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back and current assistant manager of K.A.A. Gent.

Career

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Club

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Brugge

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Lombaerts joined Club Brugge at young age where he went through all youth ranks. He claimed various league titles at young age as he was part of a strong generation at Brugge, with players such as Jason Vandelannoite, Glenn Verbauwhede and Thomas Matton.

Gent

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As his ambition was to play in the starting lineup of a first division team as soon as possible and Club Brugge was not able to guarantee this, he moved to Gent where he soon was able to play almost every match in the 2005–06 Belgian First Division and also got his first appearance for the Belgium national football team. Apart from football, he was at that point still studying law at Ghent University. Several times he was selected for the Belgian national youth teams such as the Belgium national under-21 football team. Highlights were the 2004 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship and the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

Zenit

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Lombaerts in 2015

In July 2007, Lombaerts chose a lucrative transfer to the FC Zenit Saint Petersburg in Russia. At that point he quit his studies and chose for a football career. Zenit eventually won its first Russian league title with the 2007 Russian Premier League. At the beginning of 2008, Lombaerts was sidelined for over half a year as the result of a knee injury. He received knee injury in UEFA Cup game against Villarreal CF during the attack that led to the only away goal against the Spanish team. His actions in this game (goal assist by header) later on have been regarded by Zenit fans as one of the most important steps in the subsequent victory in UEFA Cup. In the following games without him, his team won the 2007–08 UEFA Cup and he also missed the 2008 Summer Olympics where Belgium finished fourth.

Lombaerts finally made his return to Zenit on 19 July 2009, coming on in the 71st minute for Aleksei Ionov against Terek Grozny. Even though Zenit were defeated 3-2, Lombaerts described the happiness of taking the pitch again as similar to "a small child's joy when walking into a shop full of sweets."[2] He then quickly became a fixture in defense for caretaker Anatoliy Davydov, helping Zenit win six consecutive matches to get back into the title hunt. On 29 November 2009, Lombaerts scored the game-winning goal against rival Spartak Moscow to put Zenit into the 2010-11 UEFA Champions League as third-place team in Russia.[3]

On 5 July 2010, Lombaerts signed a four-year contract to remain with Zenit.[4]

Oostende

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On 24 March 2017, it was announced that after 10 seasons with Zenit, Lombaerts will return to Belgium for 2017–18 season, signing with K.V. Oostende.[5] He played his last, 289th official game for Zenit on 17 May 2017 in a game against FC Krasnodar and was honoured by the club.[6]

On 30 July 2019 it was announced, that the club wanted to terminate his contract in exchange for a severance payment of 300,000 euros and was sent to the B-team. The club was in financial problems after owner Marc Coucke left the club, why they wanted to part ways with Lombaerts and his heavy wages.[7][8]

International

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He has made his debut in full internationals in May 2006 in a friendly against Saudi Arabia,[9] and played 3 matches in Euro 2008 qualifying.

On 26 May 2014, in a pre-World Cup match against Luxembourg, Lombaerts came on as a substitute in the 77th minute for Jan Vertonghen. As Belgium had already made the 6 permitted substitutions, the match was therefore declared invalid on 4 June.[10]

Coaching career

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On 28 May 2021 it was confirmed, that Lombaerts would become the assistant manager of Hein Vanhaezebrouck at his former club K.A.A. Gent from the start of the 2021-22 season.[11]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of 22 December 2017
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Gent 2004–05 Belgian First Division A 13 0 1 0 – – 14 0
2005–06 31 1 3 0 6 0 – 40 1
2006–07 32 0 5 0 2 0 – 39 0
Total 76 1 9 0 8 0 0 0 93 1
Zenit St. Petersburg 2007 Russian Premier League 13 2 2 0 8 0 – 23 2
2008 2 0 0 0 3 0 – 5 0
2009 15 2 1 0 2 0 – 18 2
2010 26 3 4 0 7 0 – 37 3
2011–12 40 1 2 0 8 2 – 50 3
2012–13 22 0 2 0 10 0 1[a] 0 35 0
2013–14 27 1 0 0 12 0 – 39 1
2014–15 24 0 1 0 12 0 – 37 0
2015–16 18 0 2 0 8 0 1[b] 0 29 0
2016–17 8 0 2 0 5 0 – 15 0
Total 195 9 16 0 75 2 2 0 288 11
Oostende 2017–18 Belgian First Division A 17 0 3 0 0 0 – 20 0
Career total 288 10 28 0 83 2 2 0 401 12
  1. ^ One appearance in the Russian Super Cup
  2. ^ One appearance in the Russian Super Cup

International

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Appearances and goals by national team and year[12]
National team Year Apps Goals
Belgium national team 2006 1 0
2007 3 0
2008 0 0
2009 3 0
2010 5 1
2011 6 1
2012 2 0
2013 4 0
2014 7 1
2015 6 0
2016 2 0
Total 39 3
Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lombaerts goal.
List of international goals scored by Nicolas Lombaerts
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 12 October 2010 King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium  Austria 4–3 4–4 UEFA Euro 2012 Qualification
2 6 September 2011 King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium  United States 1–0 1–0 Friendly
3 12 November 2014 King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium  Iceland 1–0 3–1 Friendly

Career honours

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Zenit St. Petersburg

Notes

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  1. ^ "Lombaerts Nicolas Robert Christian". Russian Premier League. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  2. ^ Николас Ломбертс: "Когда вышел на поле в Грозном, испытал этакую детскую радость" (in Russian). sport-express.ru.
  3. ^ Зенит 2-1 Спартак статистика (in Russian). sports.ru.
  4. ^ Ломбертс подписал новый контракт с "Зенитом" (in Russian). sports.ru. 5 July 2010.
  5. ^ "LOMBAERTS VOORGESTELD IN DURBUY" (in Dutch). K.V. Oostende. 24 March 2017.
  6. ^ Николас Ломбертс провел последний матч за «Зенит» на «Петровском» (in Russian). FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. 17 May 2017.
  7. ^ Oostende wil contract Lombaerts ontbinden in ruil voor vergoeding van 300.000 euro, hln.be, 30 July 2019
  8. ^ NICOLAS LOMBAERTS NAAR DE B-KERN, kvo.be, 29 July 2019
  9. ^ Lombaerts deal uefa.com
  10. ^ "Adnan Januzaj's Belgium debut wiped from record books". BBC Sport. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  11. ^ AA Gent verrast: Nicolas Lombaerts keert terug bij Buffalo’s als assistent van Hein Vanhaezebrouck, hln.be, 28 May 2021
  12. ^ "Nicolas Lombaerts". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
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