Discover the Sunday League Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Games

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Veterans in a 6-2 win versus Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you boost a excellent experienced side that have claimed consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double with thirty victories from thirty-two games?

Sign a collection of ex- professionals who have performed at the elite level of club football and international football as you aim for further silverware.

A Greater Manchester club has an amateur vets team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their active roster.

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

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

The lineup this campaign includes 9 ex- top-flight players, with a collective 1,801 Premier League games.

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

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 games for his former club after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home match against defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted all six scores in a 6-2 victory - including a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

The team for this campaign also features former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League footballers have secured 15 big trophies and moved for total transfer fees of about £123 million.

Well-Known Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Irish appearances, netting four goals

Ireland began playing for the side during preseason this season through close friend and current team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all compete in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted twelve goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also had his debut against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"My mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and have a game, it's a laugh'," said Niasse.

"Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I saw them sporting Blue shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still love the game 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 give someone's day if they watch us playing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

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

"That's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go 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 running is what I'm after. It's good fun."

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

Unreal Scenario

Along with the forward's 6 goals on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in three appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his debut appearance and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Top Division with three victories from 3 and a GD of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in as well as playing in over 200 top-flight games.

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

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

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

"We competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

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

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

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

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager manages the Collegiate veterans team, who secured the Top Division title last season, along with his co-manager.

"Our team scored 1-0 ahead and had a

David Brown
David Brown

A seasoned gaming analyst with over a decade of experience in the casino industry, specializing in slot machine mechanics and player psychology.