Fabio Celestini


Fabio Celestini is a Swiss former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and the current manager of FC Luzern.
Having started and finished his 15-year professional career with Lausanne, he also played one full decade combined in France and Spain, representing four clubs.
Celestini appeared with the Swiss national team at Euro 2004.

Club career

Born in Lausanne, Celestini started playing professionally with hometown's 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.
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, on a contract until 30 June 2021.

International career

A Switzerland international since 1998, Celestini collected 35 caps and was a participant at the UEFA Euro 2004.