Roman Celentano (born September 14, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Major League Soccer club

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The team succeeded the lower-division team of the ...

Early life

Roman Celentano was born on September 14, 2000, to Marcello and Manuela Celentano. He is from

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city. Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was ...

, where he attended Neuqua Valley High School. He has two siblings, named Julian and Remi.

Club career

Youth and college

Celentano enrolled at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

in 2019 and joined the

Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer The Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer team represents Indiana University Bloomington. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. By any number of indicators, the Hoosiers are the most successful c ...

team. He played for the Hoosiers for three seasons, the first two of which they were

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

regular season champions and tournament champions. Celentano was twice named Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year, was twice named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team, and was recognized as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Tournament in 2020.

Professional

Celentano decided to forgo his senior year of college at Indiana University to sign a

Generation Adidas Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U. ...

contract with Major League Soccer, making him eligible for the 2022 MLS SuperDraft. Projected as a Top 10 draft pick, Celentano was drafted second overall by

in the draft, becoming the highest drafted goalkeeper in the SuperDraft since

Andre Blake Andre Jason Blake (born 21 November 1990) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer and the Jamaica national team. College soccer Blake spent three years playing college ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. As a Generation adidas player, he signed with FC Cincinnati the same day on January 11, 2022. Celentano went on loan for the early part of the 2022 season with Cincinnati's reserve team, FC Cincinnati 2 in

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro is a men's professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer. It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and will expand to 28 in 2023. The league comprises 27 reserve sides for MLS clubs ...

, where he made his professional debut on March 27, 2022, in a 0–2 loss to Philadelphia Union II. Celentano made his first team debut for Cincinnati on April 19, 2022, in a U.S. Open Cup match against the

Pittsburgh Riverhounds Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC is an American professional soccer team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1999 and beginning play in 1999, the club plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American so ...

. A few days later, on April 24, 2022, Celentano made his MLS debut, starting and playing the full match in a 1–2 loss to Los Angeles FC. Celentano bagged his first clean sheet in a victory against

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

on May 4, 2022, and then followed that up with a second consecutive clean sheet against Minnesota United FC. That earned the rookie a spot in the MLS team of the week for Week 10 of the

2022 Major League Soccer season The 2022 Major League Soccer season was the 27th season of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. The league had 28 clubs following the addition of Charlotte FC as an expansion team. The ...

International career

In January 2023, Celentano received his first call-up to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

ahead of friendlies against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

and Colombia.

Career statistics

Club

Honors

FC Cincinnati * Supporters' Shield:

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Individual * Big Ten Conference Goalkeeper of the Year:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

* NCAA Men's Division I Tournament Defensive MOP Award:

References

External links

Roman Celentano
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Celentano, Roman 2000 births Living people Men's association football goalkeepers FC Cincinnati draft picks FC Cincinnati players FC Cincinnati 2 players Indiana Hoosiers men's soccer players Major League Soccer players MLS Next Pro players Sportspeople from Naperville, Illinois Soccer players from DuPage County, Illinois American men's soccer players