Meet this Sunday League Club Boasting 1,800 English Top Division Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans in a 6-2 win against Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a stellar experienced team that have won consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph with 30 victories from 32 matches?

Sign a group of ex- pro players that have competed at the highest level of club and global soccer as you target additional honors.

A Manchester team fields an amateur vets squad with nine former Premier League footballers in their current lineup.

222 Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over 35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Top Division.

The lineup this season features nine former top-flight footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 top-flight games.

The elite team also contains over 220 top division goals and 325 international caps.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 goals in 117 appearances for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field match against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

The squad for this season also features former pros such as England and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League players have claimed 15 big honors and transferred for combined transfer sums of about £123 million.

Household Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Irish appearances, scoring four scores

Ireland began playing for the side in pre-season this summer through close friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are located in the city and wear an Blue training kit as their uniform.

Oumar Niasse playing for Everton
Oumar Niasse featured for Everton from 2016 and 2020

"A mate Stephen told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the shock I had when I saw them sporting Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!

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

"Those people who come and see are pleased and to make someone's day if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his first game at full-back.

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

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

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

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

'Surreal Feeling

In addition to Cisse's six goals on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in three games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit five on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by position, notched a hat-trick in one game up front.

The team are top of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a GD of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 top-flight games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.

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

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

"We competed well for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was tough.

"Our group really haven't stopped talking about it - I was calling my mother and brother on the way home.

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of normal fellas.

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

'We'll Still Win the League'

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

"Our team scored 1-0 up and had a

Joel Clark
Joel Clark

A seasoned sports journalist and entertainment critic with over a decade of experience covering major events and cultural trends.