Discover the Weekend Division Squad Boasting Over 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The bench for Wythenshawe Veterans in a 6-2 win against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you enhance a outstanding experienced team that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?

Bring in a group of former professionals that have performed at the elite tier of club football and global football as you aim for more trophies.

A Manchester side fields an non-professional vets squad with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their present roster.

222 Top Division Goals, 325 International Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Division.

The lineup this campaign includes 9 former Premier League footballers, with a collective 1,801 top-flight games.

This star-studded squad also boasts 222 top division goals and over 320 international appearances.

The squad feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in over 100 games for Newcastle United after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game against defending title holders their rivals and netted all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this campaign also includes former pros such as England and Liverpool 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 Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League footballers have claimed 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, netting four scores

Ireland started playing for the team during pre-season this summer through close friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked other former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and still goes to their home games, also had his debut against the opposition - who are located in the city and use an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"A mate Stephen said 'come and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

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

"When you still love the game and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"Those spectators who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I warn my centre-back 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue running.

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

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

Dreamlike' Scenario

Along with Cisse's six scores on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

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

"I felt I was a little awestruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.

"Our side held our own for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

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

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

"Now we are eager for the return match."

We Will Still Win the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Top Division championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Brian Valdez
Brian Valdez

Wildlife biologist and sloth conservation advocate with over a decade of field research in Central and South American rainforests.