Meet this Sunday Division Club With Over 1,800 English Top Division Games

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

How can you improve a excellent veteran side that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a double triumph boasting thirty wins from thirty-two games?

Recruit a collection of ex- professionals that have competed at the elite level of club football and global football as you pursue more trophies.

A Greater Manchester club has an amateur veterans team with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their current lineup.

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

The team Veterans Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Division.

Their roster this season boasts nine former top-flight footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances.

The high-profile roster also includes 222 top division scores and 325 international caps.

They feature one forward, who netted 37 goals in 117 appearances for his former club after moving to them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game against reigning champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour opening period triple.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also features former pros such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League footballers have won fifteen major honors and moved for combined transfer sums of around £123m.

Well-Known Names and Global Stars

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

Ireland started playing for the side in pre-season this season through good friend and current Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and even now attends their home games, also had his first appearance versus Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," commented Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were facing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Blue shirts - I say this is strange for me!

"If you still love football and you feel you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to do?

"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they see us competing there and to ask us queries - it's more like the joy of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at full-back.

"That's a little different but then, I enjoy running and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he added.

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

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

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

'Surreal Scenario

Along with Cisse's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Division with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of +19.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to featuring in more than two hundred top-flight matches.

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

"I felt I was a bit starstruck playing against Figueroa to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] came on and he's has 60-odd England caps.

"Our side competed well for a good twenty minutes but then we had a man dismissed and it was hard.

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

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a bunch of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the return match."

'We'll Still Take the Title'

Andy Kirby coaches the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 ahead and had a

Sonia Ramirez
Sonia Ramirez

Elara Vance is a certified running coach and marathon enthusiast who shares practical training insights and gear recommendations.