Discover this Weekend League Club Featuring Over 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Veterans during a 6-2 triumph versus their opponents on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a outstanding veteran side who have secured back-to-back championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 games?

Bring in a raft of ex- professionals that have competed at the elite level of club football and global football as you pursue additional silverware.

One Greater Manchester team has an non-professional veterans team with 9 ex- top-flight players in their active lineup.

222 Top Division Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Caps

The team Veterans Over 35s are based in south the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Vets Division Top Division.

The squad list this season boasts nine former Premier League footballers, with a combined 1,801 elite appearances.

The high-profile roster also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 global caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched 37 goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's team for this campaign also includes ex- professionals such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the ex- Premier League footballers have won 15 big trophies and transferred for total transfer fees of about £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned six Republic of Ireland appearances, netting 4 scores

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side during pre-season this season through good friend and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then asked additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and still goes to their home games, also made his debut versus the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

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

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is strange for me!

"When you still love football and you feel you can still play, anywhere you can play, what are you going to do?

"Those spectators who come and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they see us competing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

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

"It's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

"I tell my centre-back 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep attacking.

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

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

Unreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with three wins from three and a GD of +19.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"The news was going round like a rumor they had all these former top-flight stars," said the player.

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

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

"Our side held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"We literally haven't ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the journey home.

"The opponents were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal fellas.

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

'We'll Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier championship last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Jeffrey Howard
Jeffrey Howard

An avid hiker and nature photographer with a passion for exploring the Italian Alps and sharing travel insights.