Xhulio Zeneli
Senior Journalist
With more than a decade of experience in football, Xhulio Zeneli has built a reputation for securing exclusive interviews and uncovering compelling stories. Based in Albania and fluent in English and Italian, Xhulio combines his work as a journalist with experience as a youth coach. His growing catalogue of interviews for Football Presse includes respected figures such as George Boateng, Alberico Evani and Marco Sanna.
Articles by Xhulio Zeneli
→Exclusive: Massimo Donati explains Atalanta's rise and why Palladino brought belief back to Bergamo
Massimo Donati believes Atalanta's transformation into one of Italian football's established forces is the result of years of careful planning, investment and youth development, rather than simply the financial resources available to the club.
5 November 2026
→Marco Negri exclusive: Rangers have lost their fear factor since Gerrard left
Marco Negri remembers when visiting Ibrox was an intimidating experience for opposition teams.
4 November 2026
→Exclusive: Alberico Evani cannot understand Sampdoria's decline - "There is everything there to do much better"
Alberico Evani has experienced Sampdoria from two very different perspectives.
1 November 2026
→Exclusive: AC Milan great Alberico Evani reveals the Mancini who surprised him as Italy won the Euros
Alberico Evani opens up about Roberto Mancini's transformation from difficult player to composed coach, the unity that carried Italy to European Championship glory, and his own determination to build a career as a head coach.
29 October 2026
→Exclusive: How Australia helped shape Gabriele Cioffi as a coach
When Gabriele Cioffi’s first senior coaching job at Gavorrano ended in 2013, his career could have stalled before it had properly begun.
23 October 2026
→Gavin Rae exclusive: From Dundee struggles to Aberdeen dreams
Gavin Rae struggled to establish himself at Dundee after leaving school, but the people who helped him grow as a player set him on a path that eventually led to Scotland and Aberdeen.
22 October 2026
→Roberto Breda exclusive: The Parma experience that changed his view of football
Roberto Breda had experienced the excitement of breaking into Serie A with Sampdoria. Towards the end of his playing career, Parma offered him another opportunity to learn from footballers operating at the highest level.
21 October 2026
→Christian Manfredini exclusive: What Osasuna taught me — and facing Real Madrid’s Galácticos
Christian Manfredini’s career took him from the heights of Italian football to an unexpected adventure in Spain, where he discovered a different way of playing the game.
20 October 2026
→Christian Manfredini exclusive: Chievo Verona’s rise, painful fall and dream of returning to Italy’s elite
Christian Manfredini still struggles to sum up his time at Chievo Verona in more than one word.
18 October 2026
→Exclusive: Stephen Constantine on Bournemouth’s academy, Joe Roach and Eddie Howe
Stephen Constantine knows Bournemouth from the inside. Long before the club became an established Premier League side, the English coach spent a season working in its academy, experiencing the environment that helped shape the club’s future.
18 October 2026
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Gabriele Cioffi exclusive: What Henk ten Cate taught me and why the Gulf is more than football’s money
Gabriele Cioffi’s time in the United Arab Emirates gave him more than an introduction to football outside Europe.
15 October 2026
→Christian Manfredini exclusive: Alessandro Del Piero, Roberto Mancini and the coaches who shaped his career
Christian Manfredini learned from some of Italian football’s most influential figures.
15 October 2026
→Gabriele Cioffi exclusive: The quiet talent of Destiny Udogie and the lessons of Udinese and Hellas Verona
Gabriele Cioffi’s first impression of Destiny Udogie was wrong.
14 October 2026
→Christian Manfredini exclusive: Conquering Italy with Chievo before accepting Lazio move
Christian Manfredini was part of one of the most remarkable stories in Italian football, helping Chievo Verona finish fifth in Serie A before accepting the challenge of joining Lazio.
13 October 2026
→Gabriele Cioffi exclusive: Gianfranco Zola, Jude Bellingham and the lessons of English football
Gabriele Cioffi's time in English football gave him an education that extended well beyond the touchline.
12 October 2026
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Christian Manfredini exclusive: From Juventus and Chievo’s fairytale to a new life helping young players
Christian Manfredini’s journey through Italian football took him from the Juventus youth system to Chievo Verona’s remarkable rise, Lazio’s Stadio Olimpico and the Champions League.
11 October 2026
→Stephen Constantine exclusive: India's football problem starts with its coaches
Stephen Constantine believes Indian football is failing to make the most of its talent.
11 October 2026
→Davide Petrucci exclusive: I knew Paolo Zanetti could become a top coach
Davide Petrucci's career began with Roma, took him to Manchester United as a teenager and eventually sent him across Europe in search of the football that would suit him best.
8 October 2026
→Gianni De Biasi exclusive: The Modena project that took a team from Serie C to Serie A
Gianni De Biasi's three-and-a-half years at Modena produced one of the most remarkable climbs in Italian football.
8 October 2026
→Gianni De Biasi exclusive: How Albania made history and changed its footballing future
Gianni De Biasi knew Albania could make history earlier than most people expected.
7 October 2026
→Nando Rafael exclusive: In Holland it was about details, in Germany it was about results
Nando Rafael experienced very different sides of football during his career, from his development in the Netherlands to a long spell in Germany that took him through Hertha BSC, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Augsburg.
6 October 2026
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Exclusive: Why Gianni De Biasi walked away from Italian football
Gianni De Biasi spent much of his coaching career working within Italian football, from the lower divisions through to Serie A. But one experience ultimately convinced him that he no longer wanted to work in his home country.
4 October 2026
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Gianni De Biasi exclusive: A career built on challenges, promotion and history
Gianni De Biasi's coaching career has taken him through almost every corner of European football.
2 October 2026
→Exclusive: Kevin Hofland on Chelsea’s Jorrel Hato, Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven and the Dutch defenders taking on England
Kevin Hofland has spent enough time around Dutch football to know that producing a talented young defender is one thing. Developing him into a player capable of succeeding at the highest level is another.
29 September 2026
→Gaetano Fontana exclusive: When I watched Miccoli, I thought about Maradona
Gaetano Fontana had already played more than a decade of professional football when he arrived at Fiorentina, but the move gave him a fresh appreciation of just how quickly the game could change when the quality around him increased.
29 September 2026
→Roel Coumans exclusive: Why Australia remains one of Asia's strongest football nations
Roel Coumans knows Australian football from the inside.
24 September 2026
→Davide Petrucci exclusive: Turkey makes you feel like a footballer
Mohamed Salah is discovering Turkish football for himself now. The Egyptian arrived at Trabzonspor with a career that has already taken him through some of the biggest stadiums in Europe, but Turkey has given him a different kind of football experience.
23 September 2026
→Antonio Simões exclusive: Cristiano Ronaldo v Eusébio — the question nobody asks
For more than 60 years, Antonio Simões has had a front-row seat to Portugal's football history.
22 September 2026
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Nando Rafael exclusive: The Arsenal dream that took him to China
Nando Rafael had already built a career in the Bundesliga when he made a decision that, at the time, was all about getting to the Premier League.
22 September 2026
→Antonio Simões exclusive: The José Mourinho qualities he spotted before the rest of football
Antonio Simões knew José Mourinho before the trophies, the Champions League titles and the touchline theatrics made him one of the most recognisable figures in football.
20 September 2026
→Davide Petrucci exclusive: I prepared my Man United pal Pogba for Juventus without knowing it
Davide Petrucci and Paul Pogba were teenagers together at Manchester United, sharing a house, a dressing room and the strange experience of trying to grow up in a foreign country while chasing a place at one of the biggest clubs in the world.
20 September 2026
→Nando Rafael exclusive: Klopp and Germany’s lost football identity
Nando Rafael spent much of his professional career in Germany, arriving at Hertha BSC Berlin as a young player before representing Borussia Mönchengladbach and FC Augsburg.
17 September 2026
→Exclusive: Carlos García Badías on the Unai Emery who always demanded more
Carlos García Badías had already experienced Unai Emery as a demanding coach before he understood how much those demands would influence his own career.
17 September 2026
→Exclusive: Paolo Poggi on the Udinese attack that changed everything
Paolo Poggi, Oliver Bierhoff and Márcio Amoroso were three very different forwards. That, Poggi believes, was precisely why they became such an effective attacking unit at Udinese.
16 September 2026
→Nando Rafael exclusive: The missing piece behind Augsburg's rise
By the time Nando Rafael arrived at FC Augsburg, he was no longer the young striker who had emerged from Ajax and made his Bundesliga debut with Hertha BSC Berlin.
15 September 2026
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Nando Rafael exclusive: How Ajax taught me second place was failure
Nando Rafael arrived in the Netherlands as a child from Angola and eventually found himself inside one of the most celebrated football academies in Europe.
13 September 2026
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Nando Rafael exclusive: From Angola to Ajax and back again
Nando Rafael's football journey has taken him from Angola to one of Europe's most famous academies, through the Bundesliga, Denmark and China, and eventually back to the country where his love of football began.
10 September 2026
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Paolo Poggi exclusive: Italy's World Cup failures are an organisational problem
Paolo Poggi has spent more than two decades inside Italian football, first as a Serie A striker with Torino, Udinese and Roma and later working in technical and youth development roles with Udinese and Venezia.
10 September 2026
→Maurizio Franzone exclusive: Why Edmundo surprised me more than Batistuta
Maurizio Franzone was a goalkeeper in Serie A when Italy's top flight was packed with some of the best players in the world.
9 September 2026
→Carlos García Badías exclusive: Iniesta was already playing at another level at 10
The former Spanish centre-back came through the youth system at Espanyol and represented Spain at youth level, where he played alongside Iniesta before either had established a professional career.
8 September 2026
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Paolo Poggi exclusive: From Venice to Serie A history - and back again
Paolo Poggi's football career began in Venice and took him from his hometown club to Torino, Udinese, Roma and back again, while bringing a Serie A record that stood for 19 years.
6 September 2026
→Ex-Napoli coach Andrea Agostinelli exclusive: Those who doubt De Bruyne are crazy
Andrea Agostinelli believes Napoli have the midfield quality to challenge at the top of Serie A, insisting those questioning Kevin De Bruyne’s value to the champions are “crazy”.
4 September 2026
→Gordon Hill exclusive: How America helped make a Man United star
Gordon Hill's American adventure was supposed to be a pre-season experiment. Instead, it helped turn a promising Millwall winger into a Manchester United player.
4 September 2026
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Exclusive: Poggi recalls his eight-second Serie A goalscoring record
For 19 years, Paolo Poggi held the record for the fastest goal in Serie A.
3 September 2026
→Exclusive: Poggi slams Mancini's Italy return and hails "clean" Maldini
Paolo Poggi believes Italy's problems run far deeper than whoever occupies the national-team dugout, warning that the country must address the organisation of its football if it is to recover its place among the game's elite.
2 September 2026
→Exclusive: Jong Ajax coach Carlos García examines Spain youngsters Cubarsi, Asensio and Huijsen
Carlos García Badías has spent his first weeks as Jong Ajax head coach working with the next generation of players at one of Europe's most famous academies.
2 September 2026
→Exclusive: Massimo Donati insists more to Como than big spending
Massimo Donati believes Como's remarkable rise is down to far more than the money behind the club.
31 August 2026
→Amedao Mangone exclusive: Ronaldo was just on another level
Amedeo Mangone spent nine seasons in Serie A during one of the richest eras for attacking talent.
30 August 2026
→Massimo Donati exclusive: Gasperini made me understand why and how things were done
Massimo Donati's relationship with Atalanta began long before Gian Piero Gasperini arrived in Bergamo.
27 August 2026
→Exclusive: Roel Coumans reveals the Van Marwijk lessons that shaped his coaching career
Roel Coumans has spent much of his coaching career working in the shadow of one of Dutch football's most respected managers.
25 August 2026