Stefano Celozzi (born 2 November 1988) is a German former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Having represented Germany at youth level, he is of Italian descent.

Club career

Youth

After playing youth football with a succession of local clubs, including

SSV Ulm 1846 SSV Ulm 1846 FUSSBALL e.V., commonly known as SSV Ulm 1846 or SSV Ulm, is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg. SSV Ulm 1846 FUSSBALL was formed on 7 March 2009 as new independent club through the separat ...

, Celozzi joined the youth setup of

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

in 2005. He quickly progressed to the reserve team, making his debut in the

Regionalliga A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous Sports governing body, sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues. The term is often associated with the Germa ...

in August 2005, aged just 16. Over the next three seasons, Celozzi played 81 games at this level, scoring three times. He was named as part of the first-team squad for the 2007–08 season, but did not make an appearance, continuing to be a regular for the reserves.

Karlsruher SC

In July 2008, Celozzi joined

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

, and made his first appearance on 10 August 2008 in the

first round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of the DFB-Pokal, against SpVgg Ansbach. He made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

debut on 16 August 2008 in the opening fixture against

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

. Karlsruhe were relegated at the end of the season.

VfB Stuttgart

Following Karlsruhe's relegation, Celozzi moved to

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

in June 2009. On 3 May 2012, VfB Stuttgart announced that the expiring contract of Celozzi would not be extended.

Eintracht Frankfurt

On 7 May 2012,

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

announced that they had signed Celozzi on a two-year contract, starting from the 2012–13 Bundesliga season.

VfL Bochum

On 14 July 2014,

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

announced that they had signed Celozzi on a two-year contract, starting from the 2014–15 2. Bundesliga season. Celozzi retired from football in June 2020.

Career statistics

*1.Includes Champions League and Europa League.

International career

Celozzi has played for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

at U-16 and U-18 levels, and since the beginning of the 2009–10 season has been part of the U-21 squad, winning three caps to date.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Celozzi, Stefano 1988 births Living people People from Günzburg Footballers from Swabia (Bavaria) German sportspeople of Italian descent Eintracht Frankfurt players FC Bayern Munich II players Karlsruher SC players Karlsruher SC II players VfB Stuttgart players VfB Stuttgart II players VfL Bochum players German men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Germany men's under-21 international footballers 2. Bundesliga players Regionalliga players 21st-century German sportsmen