Frédéric Shtjefan Veseli (born 20 November 1992), commonly known as Freddie Veseli, is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Le Mans on loan from Italian Serie B club Empoli and the Albania national team. His main position is centre back but he can also play at right back and left back.
Born in Renens, Switzerland, Veseli began his youth career with local club FC Renens before joining Lausanne-Sport in 2005. In 2008, he was signed by English club Manchester City, before joining Manchester United in January 2012. Having failed to break into the first team, he was released in July 2013 and joined Ipswich Town, who allowed him to go on loan to Bury in the second half of the 2013–14 season. He was loaned out to Port Vale for the first half of the 2014–15 season, before joining permanently in January 2015. He returned to Switzerland in July 2015 and joined Lugano, and featured on the losing side in the 2016 Swiss Cup final before he signed with Italian side Empoli in August 2016. He served Empoli as vice-captain as the club secured promotion as champions of Serie B in the 2017–18 campaign.
He represented Switzerland at every level of youth football, and captained the Switzerland under-17s to victory in the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup. After refusing call-ups from Kosovo, in November 2015 he accepted the Albanian national team's invitation to continue his international career, and was named in the squad for UEFA Euro 2016.
2010-2012 |
2012-2013 |
2013-2015 |
2015 |
2015-2016 |
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