Introduce the Sunday League Club With 1,800 Premier League Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 win versus their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you boost a excellent veteran squad who have secured consecutive titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty victories from thirty-two games?

Recruit a collection of former professionals that have played at the highest tier of club and global soccer as you target further trophies.

One Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur vets team with nine former Premier League footballers in their current squad.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, 325 Global Caps

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

The roster this campaign includes nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective 1,801 elite matches.

This high-profile team also includes 222 top division scores and over 320 international caps.

They feature one forward, who notched 37 goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.

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

In total, the ex- Premier League players have won fifteen significant honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Well-Known Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Irish caps, scoring four scores

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this season through good mate and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for Everton from 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"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 thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still love the game and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who come and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back.

"It's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

"The running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

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

Dreamlike' Scenario

Along with Cisse's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

The team are leading of the Top Division with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.

"I think I was a little starstruck playing against him to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's got 60-odd English caps.

"Our side competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

"We really haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of normal fellas.

"Now we can't wait for the second match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Top Tier championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a

Kevin Lee
Kevin Lee

A tech journalist and digital strategist with over a decade of experience covering emerging technologies and their impact on society.