Meet this Sunday League Club Boasting Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Vets during a six-two victory versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you boost a outstanding experienced team who have secured consecutive championships, including a double triumph boasting thirty victories from 32 matches?

Sign a raft of former pro players that have played at the top level of club football and global football as you target more silverware.

One Manchester side fields an non-professional vets team with 9 former top-flight players in their active roster.

222 Premier League Scores, 325 International Caps

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are based in southern the city and compete in the Cheshire-based Veterans League Top Division.

The roster this season includes nine ex- top-flight footballers, with a combined over 1,800 top-flight games.

The high-profile roster also includes over 220 top division goals and over 320 global caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for the team in their last home-field match against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six goals in a six-two win - including a 32-minute first-half triple.

The roster for this season also features former professionals such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have won 15 major trophies and moved for total transfer sums of around £123m.

Household Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
Stephen Ireland earned 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, netting four scores

Stephen Ireland started turning out for the team in preseason this season through good friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then asked additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in sixty-five top-flight games for the Toffees and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

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

"A mate Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

"When you still love football and you know you can still play, wherever you can play, what are you going to choose?

"The spectators who come and see are pleased and to make a moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting somewhere we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his debut at full-back.

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

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

"The movement is what I'm after. It's good fun."

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

Unreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's 6 goals on debut, Ireland has netted eight in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a triple in one match up front.

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

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for Collegiate OB, faced ex- Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 World Cups for his country, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

"The news was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said Barrow.

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

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

"We competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a player dismissed and it was hard.

"Our group literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.

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

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate veterans team, who won the Top Tier title last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"We scored one-nil ahead and had a

Alyssa Blevins
Alyssa Blevins

Marcus is a lifestyle journalist and urban culture enthusiast with over a decade of experience covering city trends and fashion.

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