Fabio Celestini (born 31 October 1975) is a Swiss footballmanager 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 teamatEuro 2004.
After retiring as a player, he moved into management. He is the current manager of Swiss Super League club FC Basel.
Celestini moved to Spain in 2004, playing one season with Levante UD.[3] 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.[4]
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.[5] 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.
ASwitzerland 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).[6][7]
In2015–16, Celestini led his team back to the Swiss Super League after a two-year absence.[12] On 3 October 2018, he was appointed at FC Lugano in the same division.[13] Just over a year later, he was ousted from his job due to bad results, and replaced by Maurizio Jacobacci.[14]
Celestini signed as manager of FC Luzern on 2 January 2020.[15] His contract with the club was terminated on 22 November 2021,[16] 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.[17][18] He was sacked on 3 March 2023.[19]
On 31 October 2023, he was appointed the new head coach of FC Basel,[20] who sat in last place of the Swiss Super League at the time of his appointment.
