Discover the Sunday League Team Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This bench for the team Veterans during a 6-2 victory against their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - one player, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you improve a excellent experienced squad who have won back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with thirty wins from thirty-two matches?

Recruit a raft of former professionals who have competed at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you pursue more honors.

A Manchester club has an non-professional vets squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their active roster.

222 Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

The team Vets Over 35s are situated in south the city and play in the Cheshire Vets League Premier Division.

The roster this season includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight games.

The elite squad also includes 222 top division scores and 325 international appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 goals in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in 2012.

He had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

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

Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen major honors and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123m.

Well-Known Names and Global Players

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

Ireland began playing for the side in preseason this season through good mate and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then invited other ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He featured for the club between 2016 and 2020

"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"Then he told me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The people who come and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his debut at defender.

"It's a bit unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

'Surreal Experience

In addition to Cisse's six goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as featuring in over two hundred top-flight matches.

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

"I felt I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

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

"Our side competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"Our group literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the way home.

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of regular guys.

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

'We'll Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition vets side, who secured the Top Division title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Carla Walton
Carla Walton

A seasoned gambling analyst with over a decade of experience in the UK casino industry, specializing in game reviews and betting strategies.