Discover this Sunday Division Squad With Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans during a 6-2 victory versus their opponents on October 19th (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a excellent veteran team that have claimed back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with 30 victories from thirty-two games?

Recruit a raft of ex- pro players who have played at the highest tier of club football and international soccer as you target further trophies.

A Greater Manchester team fields an amateur veterans team with 9 ex- top-flight players in their active lineup.

222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

The team Vets Over-35s are located in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Tier.

Their lineup this season features nine former top-flight footballers, with a total 1,801 Premier League appearances.

The star-studded roster also contains over 220 top division goals and over 320 global appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who netted 37 goals in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

The team for this season also features former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former top-flight players have won fifteen big honors and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123m.

Household Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Republic of Ireland caps, netting 4 goals

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team in pre-season this summer through close mate and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to participate.

Former Senegal forward Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

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

"Those fans who come and watch are pleased and to give a moment if they watch us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us having a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.

"That's a little different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for the team

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's six goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in as well as playing in over two hundred Premier League matches.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," remarked Barrow.

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

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

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

"Our group literally haven't stopped chatting about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

We Will Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition veterans side, who secured the Top Division title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Breanna Fox
Breanna Fox

Emma Fielding is the lead content writer at WestDesk, specializing in UX and digital product strategy.