Fabio Celestini

Swiss footballer (born 1975)

Fabio Celestini (born 31 October 1975) is a Swiss football manager and former player. A defensive midfielder, he started and finished his 15 year professional career with Lausanne, and also played for ten years in France and Spain, representing four clubs. He appeared with the Swiss national team at Euro 2004. After retiring as a player, he moved into management. He is the current manager of Swiss Super League club FC Basel.

Born in Lausanne, Celestini started playing professionally with hometown club FC Lausanne Sport, then had a four season spell in France, spending two years each with Troyes AC and Olympique de Marseille. Whilst with the latter he played the 2004 UEFA Cup final, coming on as a substitute in the second half of the 0–2 loss to Valencia CF. Celestini moved to Spain in 2004, playing one season with Levante UD. After the team's immediate relegation he stayed in the country, joining fellow La Liga club Getafe CF where he never was an undisputed starter, but managed to feature heavily in consecutive seasons. In 2007–08, as the Madrid outskirts side reached the quarter finals in the UEFA Cup, he scored against R. S. C. Anderlecht in a 2–1 group stage home win. On 16 February 2010, after having been regularly used in the past two seasons, albeit not as a usual first choice, the 34 year old Celestini announced he would not renew his contract with Getafe, choosing to return to Lausanne on a one year deal. However, due to a break in negotiations over his future role at the club after his playing career, he decided to retire before the end of the campaign, playing his last game on 15 December against U. S. Città di Palermo in the Europa League group stage.

A Switzerland international since 1998, Celestini collected 35 caps and was a participant at the UEFA Euro 2004 (appearing in two incomplete matches, as the nation exited in the group stage).

On 24 March 2015, after a spell as assistant manager at Spanish club Málaga CF and head coach with Italian amateurs Terracina Calcio 1925, Celestini replaced Marco Simone at Lausanne Sport in the latter capacity, as the side was in a poor run of results in the Swiss Challenge League. Two months later, he was confirmed in this role for the next three years. In 2015–16, Celestini led his team back to the Swiss Super League after a two year absence. On 3 October 2018, he was appointed at FC Lugano in the same division. Just over a year later, he was ousted from his job due to bad results, and replaced by Maurizio Jacobacci. Celestini signed as manager of FC Luzern on 2 January 2020. His contract with the club was terminated on 22 November 2021, after spending the majority of the season in the bottom of the league, having only accrued ten points in 14 games. On 21 November 2022, he took on as new head coach of FC Sion. He was sacked on 3 March 2023. On 31 October 2023, he was appointed the new head coach of FC Basel, who sat in last place of the Swiss Super League at the time of his appointment. His early form looks promising, with Basel initially able to get themselves out of the relegation spots.