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
Place of birth Brugge, Belgium
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Centre back
Club information
Current team
 KV Oostende
Number 6
Youth career
Club Brugge
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2007 Gent 76 (1)
2007–2017 Zenit Saint Petersburg 196 (9)
2017– KV Oostende 30 (1)
National team‡
2006–2016 Belgium 39 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 April 2018
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 29 March 2016

Nicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts (born 20 March 1985) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a centre back for KV Oostende and the Belgium national team.

Career

Club

Brugge

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

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

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

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]

International

He has made his debut in full internationals in May 2006 in a friendly against Saudi Arabia,[7] 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.[8]

Career statistics

Career statistics

As of 22 December 2017
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Gent 2004–05 Belgian First Division A 13010––140
2005–06 3113060–401
2006–07 3205020–390
Total 761908000931
Zenit St. Petersburg 2007 Russian Premier League 1322080–232
2008 200030–50
2009 1521020–182
2010 2634070–373
2011–12 4012082–503
2012–13 220201001[lower-alpha 1]0350
2013–14 27100120–391
2014–15 24010120–370
2015–16 18020801[lower-alpha 2]0290
2016–17 802050–150
Total 19591607522028811
Oostende 2017–18 Belgian First Division A 1703000–200
Career total 288102808322040112

Notes

  1. ↑ One appearance in the Russian Super Cup
  2. ↑ One appearance in the Russian Super Cup

International

Belgium national team
YearAppsGoals
200610
200730
200800
200930
201051
201161
201220
201340
201471
201560
201620
Total393

Statistics accurate as of match played 29 March 2016[9]

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
112 October 2010King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium Austria4 – 34 – 4UEFA Euro 2012 Qualification
26 September 2011King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium United States1 – 01 – 0Friendly
312 November 2014King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium Iceland1 – 03 – 1Friendly

Career honours

Club

Zenit St. Petersburg

Notes

  1. ↑ "Nicolas Lombaerts". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  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. ↑ Lombaerts deal uefa.com
  8. ↑ "Adnan Januzaj's Belgium debut wiped from record books". BBC Sport. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  9. ↑ "Nicolas Lombaerts". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
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