Discover the Weekend League Team With 1,800 English Top Division Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for Wythenshawe Veterans during a six-two victory against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you enhance a stellar experienced team that have secured consecutive championships, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 wins from 32 games?

Recruit a collection of former pro players who have performed at the top level of club and global football as you aim for additional honors.

One Greater Manchester side has an non-professional vets squad with nine ex- Premier League footballers in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five International Caps

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

Their lineup this campaign features 9 former Premier League footballers, with a combined over 1,800 elite appearances.

The high-profile squad also includes 222 top division scores and 325 global caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 scores in 117 appearances for his former club after joining them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home game versus reigning champions their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's squad for this season also includes ex- pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former top-flight players have claimed 15 major trophies and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Famous Figures and International Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Irish caps, netting 4 goals

Ireland began turning out for the team during pre-season 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 small-sided match, to join in.

Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five Premier League matches for Everton and even now attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Everton training kit as their uniform.

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

"My mate Stephen Ireland said 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the surprise I had when I noticed them wearing Everton kits - I say this is wrong for me!

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

"Those people who turn up and watch are happy and to give someone's day if they see us competing there and to pose us questions - it's more like the pleasure of us getting a place we can play, with organisation of course."

So great is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse had his debut at full-back.

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

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

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

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is turning out for Wythenshawe

Dreamlike' Feeling

In addition to Cisse's six scores on debut, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by trade, scored a triple in one game up front.

The team are top of the Top Tier with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the wing for the opposition, came up against ex- Wigan defender Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than two hundred top-flight games.

"It was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a bit awestruck playing against him to be honest.

"Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he's got over 60 England caps.

"Our side competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

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

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

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the opposition vets side, who secured the Top Tier title last season, together with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a

Jennifer Fernandez
Jennifer Fernandez

A tech journalist with over a decade of experience covering digital transformation and emerging technologies across Europe.