Champion coach Fabio Celestini leaves FC Basel

Celestini's departure comes as no surprise. Despite his successful work and ongoing contract, there has been speculation about his departure for some time. The club writes that it would have liked to continue with him, but respects the decision. It remains to be seen where Celestini will go. He would have liked to take over the job at Getafe in LaLiga, but coach Jose Bordalas was confirmed in office.

It has not been communicated who will succeed Celestini at Basel. The top candidate is said to be Ludovic Magnin. The 46-year-old has done a good job at Lausanne over the past three years. In his first season with the club from his home town, he was promoted to the Super League. In his second year in the top division, he qualified for the European Cup with the French-speaking side. Lausanne finished fifth and qualified for the Conference League.

Celestini is leaving FC Basel through the proverbial big door. He led the former serial champions to their first title win in eight years. After winning the Swiss championship title, FCB followed it up with the Cup victory, thus completing their first double since 2017.

The Frenchman took over at the Basel club in October of the year before last - as the successor to Heiko Vogel and at a time when FC Basel were bottom of the table, five points behind second-bottom Stade Lausanne-Ouchy. Even under Celestini's leadership, the team only gradually found its feet. It was only in the third-last round that they secured their place in the league in the penultimate season.

The Basel team owed its first title win in eight years to a convincing final spurt. With the increasingly impressive Xherdan Shaqiri, who returned to his parent club last August, leading the way, they racked up win after win and were crowned champions with three rounds of the season remaining. The expected victory in the cup final against the blatant outsiders Biel from the Promotion League put the perfect finishing touches to a sporting resurrection within 18 months that was hardly thought possible - and the perfect conclusion for coach Fabio Celestini.