Nicolas Lombaerts
{{short description|Belgian association football player}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Nicolas Lombaerts
| image = ZL16 (3).jpg
| caption = Lombaerts with Zenit in 2016
| fullname = Nicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts{{cite web |url=https://eng.premierliga.ru/players/Lombarts-Nikolas |title=Lombaerts Nicolas Robert Christian |publisher=Russian Premier League |access-date=9 April 2021}}
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1985|03|20}}
| birth_place = Bruges, Belgium
| height = 1.88 m
| position = Centre-back
| currentclub =
| youthyears1 = 1991–2004
| youthclubs1 = Club Brugge
| years1 = 2004–2007 | clubs1 = Gent | caps1 = 76 | goals1 = 1
| years2 = 2007–2017 | clubs2 = Zenit Saint Petersburg | caps2 = 196 | goals2 = 9
| years3 = 2017–2019 | clubs3 = KV Oostende | caps3 = 52 | goals3 = 1
| years4 = 2019–2020 | clubs4 = KV Oostende B | caps4 = 22 | goals4 = 1
| totalcaps = 346
| totalgoals = 12
| nationalyears1 = 2006–2016 | nationalteam1 = Belgium | nationalcaps1 = 39 | nationalgoals1 = 3
| manageryears1 = 2021–2023 | managerclubs1 = Gent (assistant)
}}
Nicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts (born 20 March 1985) is a Belgian professional football coach and a former centre-back.
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==
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."{{cite news|url=http://www.sports.ru/football/20142499.html|script-title=ru:Николас Ломбертс: "Когда вышел на поле в Грозном, испытал этакую детскую радость"|publisher=sport-express.ru|language=ru}} 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.{{cite news|url=http://www.sports.ru/stat/football/match/stat/19096.html|script-title=ru:Зенит 2-1 Спартак статистика|publisher=sports.ru|language=ru}}
On 5 July 2010, Lombaerts signed a four-year contract to remain with Zenit.{{cite news|url=http://www.sports.ru/football/71628209.html|script-title=ru:Ломбертс подписал новый контракт с "Зенитом"|publisher=sports.ru|date=5 July 2010|language=ru}}
==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.{{cite web|publisher=K.V. Oostende|url=http://www.kvo.be/nieuws/lombaerts-voorgesteld-durbuy|title=LOMBAERTS VOORGESTELD IN DURBUY|date=24 March 2017|language=nl}} 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.{{cite web|publisher=FC Zenit Saint Petersburg|url=http://fc-zenit.ru/news/2017-05-17-nikolas-lomberts-provel-posledniy-match-za-zenit-na-petrovskom.htm|script-title=ru:Николас Ломбертс провел последний матч за «Зенит» на «Петровском»|date=17 May 2017|language=ru}}
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.[https://www.hln.be/sport/voetbal/belgisch-voetbal/kv-oostende/oostende-wil-contract-lombaerts-ontbinden-in-ruil-voor-vergoeding-van-300-000-euro~a65cdb45/?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.dk%2F Oostende wil contract Lombaerts ontbinden in ruil voor vergoeding van 300.000 euro], hln.be, 30 July 2019[http://www.kvo.be/nieuws/nicolas-lombaerts-naar-de-b-kern NICOLAS LOMBAERTS NAAR DE B-KERN], kvo.be, 29 July 2019
=International=
He has made his debut in full internationals in May 2006 in a friendly against Saudi Arabia,[https://web.archive.org/web/20080127172937/http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/news/kind=2/newsid=497946.html Lombaerts deal] uefa.com 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.{{cite news|title=Adnan Januzaj's Belgium debut wiped from record books|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27703265|access-date=4 June 2014|work=BBC Sport|date=4 June 2014}}
Coaching career
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.[https://www.hln.be/belgisch-voetbal/aa-gent-verrast-nicolas-lombaerts-keert-terug-bij-buffalos-als-assistent-van-hein-vanhaezebrouck~ae22b31f/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F AA Gent verrast: Nicolas Lombaerts keert terug bij Buffalo’s als assistent van Hein Vanhaezebrouck], hln.be, 28 May 2021
Career statistics
=Club=
{{updated|22 December 2017}}
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" | ||||||||||
| rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season !colspan="3"|League !colspan="2"|Cup !colspan="2"|Continental !colspan="2"|Other !colspan="2"|Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| rowspan="4"|Gent
|rowspan="3"|Belgian First Division A |13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | colspan="2"|– | 14 | 0 | |||
| 2005–06
|31 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 40 | 1 | ||
| 2006–07
|32 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 39 | 0 | ||
| colspan="2"|Total
!76 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 93 | 1 | |
| rowspan="11"|Zenit St. Petersburg
|2007 |rowspan="10"|Russian Premier League |13 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 23 | 2 | ||
| 2008
|2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 5 | 0 | ||
| 2009
|15 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 18 | 2 | ||
| 2010
|26 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 37 | 3 | ||
| 2011–12
|40 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 2 | colspan="2"|– | 50 | 3 | ||
| 2012–13
|22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1{{efn|One appearance in the Russian Super Cup}} | 0 | 35 | 0 | |
| 2013–14
|27 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 39 | 1 | ||
| 2014–15
|24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 37 | 0 | ||
| 2015–16
|18 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1{{efn|One appearance in the Russian Super Cup}} | 0 | 29 | 0 | |
| 2016–17
|8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 15 | 0 | ||
| colspan="2"|Total
!195 | 9 | 16 | 0 | 75 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 288 | 11 | |
| Oostende
|Belgian First Division A |17 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | colspan="2"|– | 20 | 0 | ||
| colspan="3"|Career total
!288 | 10 | 28 | 0 | 83 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 401 | 12 |
{{notelist}}
=International=
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year{{NFT player|id=12655|name=Nicolas Lombaerts|accessdate=4 October 2016}} | |||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan="12"|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.
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ List of international goals scored by Nicolas Lombaerts | ||||||
| #
!Date !Venue !Opponent !Score !Result !Competition | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align="center"| 1 | {{dts|format=dmy|2010|10|12}} | King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium | {{fb|Austria}} | align="center"| 4–3 | align="center"| 4–4 | UEFA Euro 2012 Qualification |
| align="center"| 2 | {{dts|format=dmy|2011|09|06}} | King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium | {{fb|USA}} | align="center"| 1–0 | align="center"| 1–0 | Friendly |
| align="center"| 3 | {{dts|format=dmy|2014|11|12}} | King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium | {{fb|Iceland}} | align="center"| 1–0 | align="center"| 3–1 | Friendly |
Career honours
Zenit St. Petersburg
Notes
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20101104075441/http://en.fc-zenit.ru/main/team/zenit/players/11639.html Profile at the official FC Zenit St. Petersburg website]
- {{RPL player|Lombarts-Nikolas}}
- [http://www.belgianfootball.be/en/red-devils-team-selection Belgium Stats] at Belgian FA
{{Belgium squad 2014 FIFA World Cup}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lombaerts, Nicolas}}
Category:Footballers from Bruges
Category:Men's association football defenders
Category:Belgian men's footballers
Category:Belgian expatriate men's footballers
Category:Belgium men's youth international footballers
Category:Belgium men's under-21 international footballers
Category:Belgium men's international footballers
Category:FC Zenit Saint Petersburg players
Category:UEFA Europa League–winning players
Category:K.V. Oostende players
Category:Russian Premier League players
Category:Belgian Pro League players
Category:2014 FIFA World Cup players
Category:Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Russia