Nicolas Lombaerts
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Lombaerts with Zenit in 2016
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts | ||
| Date of birth | 20 March 1985 | ||
| Place of birth | Brugge, Belgium | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Centre back | ||
| Club information | |||
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Current team
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Zenit St. Petersburg | ||
| Number | 6 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Club Brugge | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2004–2007 | Gent | 76 | (1) |
| 2007– | Zenit Saint Petersburg | 195 | (9) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2006– | Belgium | 39 | (3) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 April 2017. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 29 March 2016 |
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Nicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts (born 20 March 1985) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a centre back for FC Zenit Saint Petersburg and the Belgium national team.
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.
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.
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. In the meantime without him, his team won the 2007–08 UEFA Cup and he also missed the 2008 Summer Olympics where Belgium finished fourth.
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