About Bogdan Lobont

Bogdan Ionuț Lobonț (Romanian pronunciation: ; born 18 January 1978) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. Currently he is the goalkeeping coach at Rapid București.

He amassed 87 appearances for the Romania national team between 1998 and 2018, representing the country in two European Championships. He was popularly nicknamed Pisica ("The Cat") in Romania, due to his quick reflexes and relative small body frame for a goalkeeper.

Lobonț was part of Romania national team's UEFA Euro 2000 and Euro 2008 squads. 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 draw of 1–1.

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. 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.

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.