Frédéric Veseli

Early career

Veseli started his football career with Renens. In 2005, he joined Lausanne-Sport, where he remained until 2008 when he moved to England to join Manchester City's Elite Development Squad. He would spend the next four seasons playing primarily for the reserve team. During the 2010–11 season, manager Roberto Mancini named Veseli in the first-team squad for the League Cup Third round match against West Bromwich Albion on 22 September, where he was an unused substitute for the entire game. Mancini promised to give him his Premier League debut on the final day of the 2010–11 season. However, Veseli tore his hamstring and was unable to play. Before the 2011–12 season, Veseli featured prominently at the 2011 World Football Challenge but did not make any first-team appearance that year. He demanded a contract of £5,000 a week, which City refused to give. He was approached by René Meulensteen, a coach under Alex Ferguson at City's local rivals Manchester United. Brian Marwood had wanted to demonstrate to the City players that the City Football Group could not be forced into offering more generous terms than they were willing to give. On 31 January 2012, the last day of the 2012 winter transfer window, Veseli joined Manchester United on a free transfer. However, he failed to break into the first-team at Old Trafford and Manchester United released Veseli at the end of his contract in July 2013.

Ipswich Town

In July 2013, Veseli was signed by Mick…

In May 2009, Veseli reached the semi-finals of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship, which was held in Germany. In October 2009, he competed in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which was held in Nigeria, playing in six matches and eventually winning the competition as captain with a 1–0 victory over the hosts at the Abuja Stadium. Although he has Swiss citizenship, Veseli declared to the media that he would welcome a call-up from Albania, given his Albanian ethnicity. He had also been contacted several times by Kosovo coach Albert Bunjaki, but refused to commit himself to Kosovo.

Albania

On 7 November 2015, Veseli received his first call-up to Albania by coach Gianni De Biasi for the friendly matches against Kosovo and Georgia on 13 and 16 November 2015. He made his first appearance against Kosovo as a substitute in the 63rd minute for Berat Djimsiti. He formally secured Albanian citizenship in May 2016.

Euro 2016

On 21 May 2016, Veseli was named in Albania's preliminary 27-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016, and in Albania's final 23-man UEFA Euro 2016 squad on 31 May. He appeared as an 86th-minute substitute against hosts France in Albania's second group game, which ended in a 2–0 defeat. Albania finished the group in the third position with three points and with a goal difference –2, and was ranked last in the third-placed teams, which eventually eliminated them.

Speaking in July 2014, Port Vale manager Micky Adams stated that Veseli was "quick, he can handle the ball and he's got decent pedigree".

Veseli was born in Switzerland to Albanian parents from Kosovo and speaks fluent English, French, Albanian and Italian. His father settled the family in Lausanne and worked in construction before joining a multi-national company that made plastic packaging. Veseli achieved the top grades in his school's region at the age of 15. Following Albania's historic participation at UEFA Euro 2016, Veseli was among the members of the national team who were issued diplomatic passports by the Albanian government in recognition of their achievement. In 2022, he was living with his partner, an accountant from Switzerland.