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.
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.
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 caretakerAnatoliy 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]
Oostendeedit
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]
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 careeredit
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]
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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 Nicolas LombaertsLombaerts with Zenit in 2016Personal informationFull nameNicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts 1 Date of birth 1985 03 20 20 March 1985 age 38 Place of birthBruges BelgiumHeight1 88 m 6 ft 2 in Position s Centre backTeam informationCurrent teamGent assistant Youth career1991 2004Club BruggeSenior career YearsTeamApps Gls 2004 2007Gent76 1 2007 2017Zenit Saint Petersburg196 9 2017 2019KV Oostende52 1 2019 2020KV Oostende B22 1 Total346 12 International career2006 2016Belgium39 3 Managerial career2021 Gent assistant Club domestic league appearances and goals Contents 1 Career 1 1 Club 1 1 1 Brugge 1 1 2 Gent 1 1 3 Zenit 1 1 4 Oostende 1 2 International 2 Coaching career 3 Career statistics 3 1 Club 3 2 International 4 Career honours 5 Notes 6 External linksCareer editClub edit Brugge edit 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 edit 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 edit nbsp Lombaerts in 2015In 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 edit 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 edit 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 editOn 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 editClub edit As of 22 December 2017Club Season League Cup Continental Other TotalDivision Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps GoalsGent 2004 05 Belgian First Division A 13 0 1 0 14 02005 06 31 1 3 0 6 0 40 12006 07 32 0 5 0 2 0 39 0Total 76 1 9 0 8 0 0 0 93 1Zenit St Petersburg 2007 Russian Premier League 13 2 2 0 8 0 23 22008 2 0 0 0 3 0 5 02009 15 2 1 0 2 0 18 22010 26 3 4 0 7 0 37 32011 12 40 1 2 0 8 2 50 32012 13 22 0 2 0 10 0 1 a 0 35 02013 14 27 1 0 0 12 0 39 12014 15 24 0 1 0 12 0 37 02015 16 18 0 2 0 8 0 1 b 0 29 02016 17 8 0 2 0 5 0 15 0Total 195 9 16 0 75 2 2 0 288 11Oostende 2017 18 Belgian First Division A 17 0 3 0 0 0 20 0Career total 288 10 28 0 83 2 2 0 401 12 One appearance in the Russian Super Cup One appearance in the Russian Super Cup International edit Appearances and goals by national team and year 12 National team Year Apps GoalsBelgium national team 2006 1 02007 3 02008 0 02009 3 02010 5 12011 6 12012 2 02013 4 02014 7 12015 6 02016 2 0Total 39 3Scores 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 Competition1 12 October 2010 King Baudouin Stadium Brussels Belgium nbsp Austria 4 3 4 4 UEFA Euro 2012 Qualification2 6 September 2011 King Baudouin Stadium Brussels Belgium nbsp United States 1 0 1 0 Friendly3 12 November 2014 King Baudouin Stadium Brussels Belgium nbsp Iceland 1 0 3 1 FriendlyCareer honours editZenit St Petersburg Russian Premier League 2007 2010 2011 12 2014 15 Russian Cup 2010 Russian Super Cup 2008 2011 UEFA Cup 2007 08 UEFA Super Cup 2008Notes edit Lombaerts Nicolas Robert Christian Russian Premier League Retrieved 9 April 2021 Nikolas Lomberts Kogda vyshel na pole v Groznom ispytal etakuyu detskuyu radost in Russian sport express ru Zenit 2 1 Spartak statistika in Russian sports ru Lomberts podpisal novyj kontrakt s Zenitom in Russian sports ru 5 July 2010 LOMBAERTS VOORGESTELD IN DURBUY in Dutch K V Oostende 24 March 2017 Nikolas Lomberts provel poslednij match za Zenit na Petrovskom in Russian FC Zenit Saint Petersburg 17 May 2017 Oostende wil contract Lombaerts ontbinden in ruil voor vergoeding van 300 000 euro hln be 30 July 2019 NICOLAS LOMBAERTS NAAR DE B KERN kvo be 29 July 2019 Lombaerts deal uefa com Adnan Januzaj s Belgium debut wiped from record books BBC Sport 4 June 2014 Retrieved 4 June 2014 AA Gent verrast Nicolas Lombaerts keert terug bij Buffalo s als assistent van Hein Vanhaezebrouck hln be 28 May 2021 Nicolas Lombaerts National Football Teams Benjamin Strack Zimmermann Retrieved 4 October 2016 External links editProfile at the official FC Zenit St Petersburg website Nicolas Lombaerts at Russian Premier League Belgium Stats at Belgian FA Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Nicolas Lombaerts amp oldid 1164562701, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
