Meet this Weekend Division Club With 1,800 English Top Division Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans in a 6-2 triumph versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you enhance a stellar veteran side who have claimed consecutive championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 matches?

Recruit a raft of ex- pro players who have played at the top level of club football and global soccer as you pursue further trophies.

A Manchester club boasts an non-professional vets squad with nine former top-flight players in their current squad.

222 Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s are located in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Division.

The squad list this campaign features 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.

This star-studded squad also contains 222 Premier League goals and over 320 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game versus reigning champions their rivals and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

The squad for this campaign also features former pros such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League players have claimed 15 big honors and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Irish caps, scoring 4 scores

Ireland started turning out for the side in pre-season this season through close friend and current team teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to join in.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also made his debut against the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

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

"My mate Stephen said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

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

"When you still enjoy football and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and watch are happy and to give someone's moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his first game at full-back.

"That's a little unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I tell my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

"That movement is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Unreal Scenario

Along with the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as playing in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," remarked the player.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Also 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 player dismissed and it was tough.

"Our group literally haven't 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 facing a group of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Top Division title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went one-nil ahead and had a

Shelby Carney
Shelby Carney

A seasoned software engineer and tech writer with over a decade of experience in cloud computing and open-source projects.