Meet the Sunday Division Team Boasting Over 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

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

How can you improve a stellar veteran squad that have won back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double with thirty victories from 32 matches?

Sign a raft of ex- professionals who have competed at the highest tier of club and international football as you target more silverware.

A Greater Manchester side fields an amateur veterans squad with 9 ex- top-flight players in their current roster.

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

The team Vets Over 35s are based in south Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Tier.

Their squad list this season boasts 9 former Premier League footballers, with a combined 1,801 elite matches.

This star-studded squad also includes 222 Premier League goals and 325 global caps.

The squad feature one forward, who scored thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for Newcastle United after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse had his debut for the team in their last home match against reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a 6-2 win - including a 32-minute first-half hat-trick.

The team for this season also includes former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Together, the former Premier League footballers have claimed fifteen big honors and moved for total transfer fees of around £123m.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Republic of Ireland appearances, netting 4 goals

Ireland began playing for the side in preseason this summer through good friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland midfielder then invited other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 goals in 65 top-flight games for the Toffees and still attends their home games, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Everton training kit as their strip.

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

"My friend Stephen said 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

"After that he told me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I thought this is wrong 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?

"The spectators who come and watch are pleased and to make a day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

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

"That's a bit different but then, I love running and just move forward - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"I tell my defender '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 full-back Maynor Figueroa is playing for the team

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to Cisse's six goals on his first game, Ireland has netted eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd scored 5 on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with 3 victories 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- Latics defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over 200 Premier League games.

"It was spreading like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League stars," remarked Barrow.

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's got over 60 England appearances.

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

"We literally have not stopped talking about it - I was calling my mum and sibling on the journey home.

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

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

'We'll Still Win the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans side, who secured the Top Division title the previous campaign, together with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 ahead and had a

Alicia Long
Alicia Long

Elena is a seasoned gamer and writer with a passion for core game mechanics and storytelling.