Bersant Celina

Early career

Celina grew up in Drammen, Norway, where he moved to as a refugee, with his family, at the age of two after leaving his native Kosovo to escape the ongoing war in the country. He started his youth career at Strømsgodset in Norway.

Manchester City

In 2012, he was offered a scholarship from the Manchester City Reserves and Academy in England, where he spent the next two years as a scholar. On 1 July 2014, Celina signed a three-year professional contract with Manchester City. At the time, Celina was injured and had a surgery; after returning from injury, he remained with the youth team whilst rehabilitating. In late December 2014, Celina was called up to the first team by head coach Manuel Pellegrini due to the busy Christmas schedule that saw Manchester City play four games in just over a week. Celina was not selected in the 18-man squad for the three matches in the Premier League, but in the fourth match valid for the third round of FA Cup against Sheffield Wednesday on 4 January 2015, he made the matchday squad. Celina remained on the bench for the entire match, which finished with a 2–1 comeback victory for City. On 19 January 2015, Celina was selected to take part in the first-team squad's mid-season Abu Dhabi training camp along with three other Manchester City academy players. He was included along with Brandon Barker, George Evans and Thierry Ambrose from Patrick Vieira's Elite Development Squad for the trip to the Middle East. Celina made…

Norway

Celina qualifies to represent Kosovo, Norway and Albania at international level. In his first years at international level, Celina was capped four times for Norway under-15s and three times for the Norway under-16 side. He was called up to the Norway under-17 team by coach Bård Flovik to participate in the 2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. In the opening match of the tournament against Malta on 29 September 2012, Celina was an unused substitute. He started the second match on 1 October against Iceland before being substituted in the 77th minute for Joachim Eriksen. The match finished with a 2–0 victory for Norway. For the last match, against Portugal on 4 October, he was again an unused substitute for the entire match, which finished with a 1–0 win for Norway. On 25 August 2015, Celina was called up to play for the Norway under-21 side in an U21 European Championship qualifier against England. He made his debut for the U21s as an 87th-minute substitute in the match on 7 September.

Kosovo

In June 2013, Celina was named as part of the Kosovo U21 squad for the 2013 Valais Youth Cup. On 12 June 2013, he made his debut for the Kosovo U21s in the 2013 Valais Youth Cup semi-final against Ghana U20 after being named in the starting line-up. As soon as FIFA permitted Kosovo to play sanctioned friendly matches with other FIFA members in March 2014, Celina was called up to the Kosovo squad for their first sanctioned match against Haiti. He was an unused…

Club

As of match played on 11 August 2024

International

As of match played 26 March 2024

As of match played 21 March 2019. Kosovo score listed first, score column indicates score after each Celina goal.

Celina's brothers Behadil and Loti are also professional footballers. On 7 August 2016, Celina was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol when officers found him behind the wheel in Manchester City Centre at 3.30 am. He was fined £2,625 and banned from driving for one year. He was also ordered to pay £255 in costs. In February 2022, Celina offered his flat in Drammen, Norway, free of charge, to Ukrainian refugees who had fled their homeland due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.