Discover the Sunday Division Squad With 1,800 Top-Flight Games

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

What can you enhance a stellar experienced team who have won consecutive titles, including a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 games?

Sign a collection of former professionals who have competed at the elite tier of club football and global soccer as you pursue further silverware.

One Greater Manchester club boasts an amateur vets squad with 9 former top-flight footballers in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 International Caps

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

The roster this season includes 9 former Premier League footballers, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances.

This star-studded team also includes 222 top division scores and over 320 international caps.

They include one forward, who scored thirty-seven scores in over 100 appearances for his former club after signing for them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home-field game against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a six-two win - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also includes former pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees 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 ex- top-flight players have won fifteen major trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Famous Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 goals

Ireland started turning out for the side in pre-season this season through good mate and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also made his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in the city and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"A mate Stephen said 'join and have a game, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still enjoy the game and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The fans who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's day if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

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

"That's a little different but then, I love running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to keep running.

"That running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

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

Unreal Feeling

Along with the forward's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred Premier League matches.

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

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd English caps.

"We held our own for a solid twenty mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the way home.

"The opponents were all really nice, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of regular guys.

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Division title last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Claudia Boyer
Claudia Boyer

Emma is a travel enthusiast and writer, exploring the hidden gems of the Netherlands.