Discover this Weekend Division Club With Over 1,800 Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Veterans during a 6-2 win against 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 excellent veteran squad that have claimed back-to-back titles, including a double triumph with thirty victories from thirty-two matches?

Bring in a raft of ex- professionals who have competed at the top tier of club football and international soccer as you target more trophies.

One Greater Manchester club fields an amateur veterans team with nine former top-flight players in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

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

Their squad list this season features 9 former Premier League players, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight appearances.

This elite roster also boasts 222 top division goals and over 320 international caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game against defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also includes ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured fifteen significant trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Irish caps, netting 4 goals

Ireland began playing for the team in preseason this summer through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland player then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side game, to join in.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 Premier League games for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also made his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
He featured for the club between 2016 and 2020

"A friend Stephen said 'come and play, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Blue kits - I say this is strange for me!

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

"Those spectators who turn up and see are happy and to give someone's moment if they see 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 the club, he made his first game at full-back.

"That's a bit unusual but then, I enjoy sprinting and just go inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

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

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

'Surreal Scenario

Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with three wins from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

He has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over 200 top-flight matches.

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

"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

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

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

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

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

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

'We'll Still Win the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Premier Division title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a

Sharon Hansen
Sharon Hansen

Elara Vance is an international business analyst with over a decade of experience in global market trends and strategic consulting.