Meet this Weekend League Team With Over 1,800 English Top Division Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Veterans in a six-two win against their opponents on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you boost a outstanding veteran side who have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from 32 games?

Bring in a collection of ex- professionals that have competed at the highest level of club football and global soccer as you target more silverware.

A Greater Manchester team boasts an amateur veterans team with 9 former top-flight footballers in their current squad.

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

The team Veterans Over 35s are based in south Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Premier Division.

The roster this campaign includes nine ex- Premier League footballers, with a total 1,801 Premier League matches.

This high-profile roster also includes 222 Premier League scores and over 320 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in 117 games for Newcastle United after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field match versus defending title holders Collegiate Old Boys and netted every one of the six goals in a six-two victory - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also includes ex- pros such as England and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League players have claimed 15 big honors and transferred for total transfer sums of approximately £123m.

Household Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Irish caps, scoring 4 scores

Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this summer through close friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited additional ex-pros, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five top-flight matches for Everton and even now goes to their home games, also had his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A friend Stephen told me 'come and play, it's enjoyable'," said Niasse.

"After that he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is wrong for me!

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

"The fans who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's day if they see us playing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at full-back.

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

"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Ex- Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Feeling

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in three games for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a hat-trick in one match as a striker.

The team are top of the Premier Division with three wins from three and a GD of +19.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

Figueroa has played at 2 global tournaments for his country, in as well as playing in more than 200 Premier League games.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League stars," said the player.

"I felt I was a bit starstruck facing him to be honest.

"Even Heskey got on and he's got over 60 English appearances.

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

"We literally have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the way home.

"They were all really nice, shaking our hands after the game - it was like playing a bunch of regular guys.

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

'We'll Still Take the Title'

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

"We went 1-0 up and had a

Benjamin Wilson
Benjamin Wilson

Cloud architect and tech writer with over a decade of experience in enterprise cloud solutions and digital innovation.