Meet this Sunday League Club Featuring Over 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This bench for the team Vets in a six-two win versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a excellent veteran side that have secured back-to-back titles, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a raft of former pro players who have played at the highest tier of club and international football as you aim for further honors.

A Manchester side has an amateur vets squad with 9 ex- Premier League players in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Tier.

The lineup this campaign includes nine ex- top-flight players, with a collective over 1,800 elite matches.

The high-profile roster also boasts over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global appearances.

The squad include one forward, who netted 37 scores in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in 2012.

He had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

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

Collectively, the ex- top-flight players have claimed fifteen significant trophies and moved for total transfer sums of around ÂŁ123 million.

Household Figures and International Players

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

Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this season through close friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He played for the club from 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"Then he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - 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 do?

"Those fans who come and watch are pleased and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he made his debut at defender.

"It's a little unusual but then, I love running and just go forward - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Feeling

In addition to Cisse's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his debut match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with 3 wins from three and a GD of +19.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in over two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," said the player.

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

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

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

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

"They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular guys.

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

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets team, who secured the Premier Tier title the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"We scored one-nil ahead and had a

Kara Lopez
Kara Lopez

Futurist and tech journalist exploring emerging trends and their impact on humanity.