Born in Vlorë, Zijai spent his entire career with hometown club Flamurtari during the 1970s and 1980s, during the club's golden years alongside fellow international players like Sokol Kushta, Kreshnik Çipi, Petro Ruçi, Alfred Ferko and Rrapo Taho.
[2] In the 1987–88 season, he and his Flamurtari teammates managed to knock out Partizan Belgrade and Wismut Aue, before losing for a second successive year to Spanish giants FC Barcelona in the UEFA Cup.
[3] He made his debut for Albania in an October 1986 European Championship qualification match away at Austria and earned a total of 3 caps, scoring no goals.
[4] Zijai became a member of the executive committee of the Albanian Football Association, and founded the Futsal Organisation of Albania.
This biographical article related to association football in Albania, about a midfielder, is a stub.