Introduce this Sunday League Club Boasting Over 1,800 English Top Division 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, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you boost a stellar veteran team that have won back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 games?

Sign a raft of former professionals that have performed at the highest tier of club football and global soccer as you target additional silverware.

A Greater Manchester team fields an amateur veterans team with nine ex- Premier League players in their current lineup.

222 Premier League Goals, 325 Global Appearances

The team Veterans Over 35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Premier Division.

Their squad list this campaign boasts 9 former top-flight footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances.

This star-studded roster also contains over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also features former pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- top-flight footballers have secured 15 big trophies and moved for combined transfer sums of approximately £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland won six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring four goals

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team in preseason this season through good friend and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted twelve scores in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He played for Everton between 2016 and 2020

"My mate Stephen told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to make someone's day if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he had his first game at full-back.

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

"I tell my defender 'I'm not hanging back' 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 full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Unreal Scenario

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a hat-trick in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Division with three victories from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked the player.

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

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

"Our side held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"We really have not ceased chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a bunch of normal guys.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets team, who won the Premier Division championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Angela White
Angela White

Elena is a music industry veteran and audio engineer with over a decade of experience in studio management.