Bogdan Lobonț

Bogdan Ionuț Lobonț (Romanian pronunciation: [boɡˈdan ˈjoˈnut͡s lobont͡s]; born 18 January 1978) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player.[1] He used to play as a goalkeeper.

Bogdan Lobonț
Lobonț with Romania in 2010
Personal information
Full name Bogdan Ionuț Lobonț
Date of birth (1978-01-18) 18 January 1978
Place of birth Hunedoara, Romania
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
1991–1995 Corvinul Hunedoara
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1997 Corvinul Hunedoara 40 (0)
1997–2000 Rapid București 80 (0)
2000–2006 Ajax 49 (0)
2001–2002 → Dinamo București (loan) 22 (0)
2006–2007 Fiorentina 17 (0)
2007–2009 Dinamo București 71 (0)
2009–2018 Roma 22 (0)
Total 301 (0)
National team
1997–1998 Romania U21 10 (0)
1998–2018 Romania 86 (0)
Teams managed
2018–2019 Universitatea Cluj
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He amassed 86 appearances for the Romania national team between 1998 and 2018, representing the country in two European Championships.[2] He was popularly nicknamed Motanul ("The Tomcat") in Romania, due to his quick reflexes and relative small body frame for a goalkeeper.[3]

Club career

Early career

Lobonț began his career with hometown club Corvinul Hunedoara in the Romanian Liga II.[4] He remained with the team until 1997, when he moved to Liga I club Rapid București. Lobonț enjoyed success there, winning the 1998–99 league title.[5]

Ajax

In the summer of 2000, Lobonț was transferred by Dutch club AFC Ajax, for a fee of €3 million.[6] Injury and inexperience, however, kept him out of the starting team, and he was loaned to Dinamo București for the 2001–02 season.[7]

Upon his return to Ajax, he became the team's primary goalkeeper. Although Lobonț struggled with occasional injuries, he played well when healthy in both the Eredivisie and the UEFA Champions League.[8]

Fiorentina

In January 2006, Lobonț was sold from Ajax to Italian Serie A club ACF Fiorentina,[9] which needed a goalkeeper after the injury of starting goalkeeper Sébastien Frey. Although he played particularly well, Frey's return meant that he would spend most of the time as a substitute.

Because he had also lost his place on the Romania national team, Lobonț made a surprise move back to Dinamo București in January 2007 and helped the club win the Liga I.[10]

Roma

On 31 August 2009, Italian Serie A team A.S. Roma signed Lobonț in a co-ownership deal from Dinamo, with an option for the club to buy him outright at the end of the season, for a fee of €1.5 million.[11] He made his first appearance for the Giallorossi on 4 October, coming off the bench after 23 minutes in a game against Napoli.[12] On 4 March 2012, he came on against Lazio because of Stekelenburg's red card. Because of starter Maarten Stekelenburg's injury, he was the temporary first goalkeeper in seven matches in the 2011–12 season.[13]

On 1 July 2013, Lobonț signed a new three-year contract with Roma which would keep him at the club until 2016.[14] Even though he had not featured in an Roma match for about four years, in 2016 he extended his contract with the team yet again, making Roma the last team of his playing career.[15]

International career
Lobonț training for Dinamo București in 2007.

Lobonț was part of Romania national team's UEFA Euro 2000 and Euro 2008 squads.[2] He turned in a particularly strong performance in Romania's group stage game in Euro 2008 against world champions Italy, saving numerous well-placed shots and keeping his team's tournament hopes alive with a 1–1 draw.[16]

Lobonț played an important part for the national team, earning over 80 caps, starting from 1998. In May 2014, after fifteen years of service, he announced his retirement from the Romania national team, citing his age as an important factor.[17] In September 2017, after coach Christoph Daum's sacking, he was called to be part of the national squad in the final two matches of the World Cup 2018 qualification stage.[18]

He retired from professional football on 5 June 2018, earning his final cap for Romania in a 2–0 friendly win against Finland at the Ilie Oană Stadium in Ploiești.[19]

Honours

Club

Rapid București

Ajax

Dinamo București

Managerial statistics
As of 12 June 2019
Team From To Record
GWDLGFGAGDWin %
Universitatea Cluj 1 January 2019 12 June 2019 19 13 2 4 39 13 +26 068.42
Total 19 13 2 4 39 13 +26 068.42

References
  1. Surpriză la Cluj! Bogdan Lobonţ a debutat ca antrenor la ”U” chiar în derby-ul cu liderul Chindia. ”Îşi începe mai repede mandatul”. liga2.prosport.ro (in Romanian)
  2. "Analiză dură a lui Lobonț" [Hard analysis by Lobonț] (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 30 September 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  3. "Lobonţ: "Mi-a dat două palme peste ceafă şi mi-a zis: "Auzi, băi Pisică! Tu crezi că timpul te aşteaptă?""" (in Romanian). ProSport. 7 April 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  4. "Râdeau de Lobonţ că e pitic" (in Romanian). Libertatea. 4 September 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  5. "Povești neștiute despre Lobonț" [Unknown stories about Lobonț] (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 17 March 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  6. "Ajax Amsterdam's title winning team of 2003/04". Sportskeeda. 20 May 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  7. "Lobonţ, salariu mai mic la Roma decît la Dinamo?" [Lobonţ, smaller salary at Roma than at Dinamo] (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 1 September 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  8. "The Italian Job: 2003 Champions League Edition". forzaitalianfootball.com. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  9. "La Fiorentina ha acquistato Bogdan Lobont" [Fiorentina acquired Bogdan Lobonţ] (in Italian). ilportiere.com. 23 January 2006. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  10. "TOP 5 reveniri spectaculoase în Liga 1" (in Romanian). ProSport. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  11. "Lobonţ a ajuns la al 9-lea sezon la AS Roma" [Lobonţ in his ninth season at AS roma] (in Romanian). fanatik.ro. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  12. "Roma - Napoli 2-1" (in Italian). calcioblog.it. 4 October 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  13. "Da Stekelenburg ad Alisson" [From Stekelenburg to Alisson] (in Italian). insideroma.com. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  14. "Roma, Lobont prolunga il contratto fino al 2016" [Roma, Labont extend contract until 2016] (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport. 1 July 2013. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  15. "Lobonţ şi-a prelungit contractul cu AS Roma". Digisport.ro. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  16. "Bogdan Lobonţ: Cel mai bun coechipier pe care l-am avut a fost Chivu" [Bogdan Lobonţ: the best teammate I had was Chivu] (in Romanian). Dolce-sport. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  17. "Pițurcă, surprins de decizia lui Lobonț, de a se retrage din națională" (in Romanian). Digi Sport. 14 May 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  18. "Romania call up Pantilimon after Tatarusanu injury". Reuters. 5 November 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  19. "România - Finlanda 2-0, în ultimul meci al lui Lobonț din carieră" [Romania - Finland 2–0, in the last match of Lobonț's career]. FRF. 5 June 2018. Archived from the original on 9 June 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
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