Discover the Sunday Division Club Boasting Over 1,800 English Top Division Matches

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

What can you enhance a excellent experienced side that have won back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with 30 wins from thirty-two matches?

Sign a group of ex- professionals who have played at the elite tier of club football and international football as you target further honors.

A Manchester side has an non-professional vets team with nine ex- Premier League players in their present lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, 325 Global Appearances

The team Vets Over 35s are situated in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire Vets Division Top Tier.

Their squad list this season includes nine former top-flight footballers, with a combined over 1,800 elite matches.

This star-studded squad also includes over 220 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

He had his debut for the team in their last home-field game against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

The team for this campaign also features former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former Premier League players have won fifteen major honors and moved for total transfer fees of about £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Irish caps, scoring 4 scores

Ireland began playing for the team during pre-season this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also made his debut against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

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

"Then he told me we were facing a side from the city and the surprise 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, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those fans who turn up and see are happy and to give a day if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

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

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

Unreal Experience

Along with the forward's 6 scores on debut, Ireland has netted eight in 3 games for the side, while Boyd scored five on his first match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

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

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young boy who Heskey was.

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

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," said the player.

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

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

"Our side held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"We really have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return fixture."

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans side, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, along with his co-manager.

"We went one-nil up and had a

Michael Rios
Michael Rios

A lifestyle curator and wellness advocate with a passion for minimalist luxury and sustainable living practices.