Discover the Sunday League Team Featuring 1,800 English Top Division Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans during a six-two victory against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you enhance a excellent veteran side that have won consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 games?

Bring in a collection of former pro players that have played at the highest tier of club and international soccer as you target additional silverware.

A Greater Manchester club has an non-professional vets squad with 9 former Premier League footballers in their present lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 International Appearances

The team Vets Over 35s are located in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Division.

The roster this season includes nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective over 1,800 elite games.

The elite roster also boasts 222 Premier League goals and 325 international appearances.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game against reigning title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two win - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's team for this season also features former professionals such as English and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have won 15 significant trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123 million.

Famous Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Irish caps, netting four scores

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the side during pre-season this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to join in.

Former Senegal striker Niasse, who scored 12 goals in 65 Premier League games for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"A friend Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"If you still love football and you know you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The people who come and see are happy and to give someone's day if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

"That running is what I'm seeking. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Unreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while Boyd scored 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

The team are leading of the Premier Division with three victories from 3 and a GD of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had all these ex-Premier League players," said the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck facing him to be honest.

"Also Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 English caps.

"We competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"Our group really haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and sibling on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans team, who secured the Premier Division title last season, together with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a

Joshua Casey
Joshua Casey

Tech journalist and software enthusiast with over a decade of experience covering emerging technologies and beta testing.