Meet the Sunday Division Club With Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for the team Vets during a six-two victory versus their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you boost a excellent veteran team that have won back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double with 30 victories from 32 matches?

Bring in a group of former pro players who have competed at the elite tier of club football and international soccer as you target further silverware.

A Manchester side boasts an amateur veterans team with 9 ex- Premier League players in their current roster.

222 Premier League Goals, 325 Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Tier.

Their roster this campaign features nine ex- Premier League players, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight games.

The high-profile roster also includes 222 Premier League scores and over 320 international caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their most recent home match versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also features ex- pros such as England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight players have won fifteen major honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Irish appearances, netting 4 goals

Ireland began playing for the side in preseason this summer through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He played for Everton between 2016 and 2020

"My mate Stephen told me 'come and play, it's a laugh'," commented Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still love football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those people who come and see are pleased and to give a moment if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his debut at full-back.

"That's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

"The movement is what I'm looking for. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Unreal Experience

Along with Cisse's six goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in three games for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Latics full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in over two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

"I think I was a little awestruck facing him to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has over 60 English appearances.

"Our side competed well for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"Our group really have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a group of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the opposition vets side, who won the Top Tier title last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Ruth Rogers
Ruth Rogers

A London-based journalist and cultural commentator with over a decade of experience covering UK trends and innovations.