Meet the Weekend Division Squad With 1,800 English Top Division Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This bench for Wythenshawe Vets during a 6-2 triumph against Collegiate Old Boys on October 19th (left to right) - Oumar Niasse, another, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What do you improve a stellar experienced squad that have claimed back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 matches?

Recruit a group of former pro players who have competed at the elite tier of club football and international soccer as you pursue additional silverware.

A Manchester team fields an amateur veterans squad with nine former Premier League players in their current roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Goals, 325 Global Caps

The team Vets Over-35s are situated in south the city and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Tier.

Their roster this season features 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 Premier League appearances.

The star-studded roster also includes 222 top division scores and over 320 global caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in 117 games for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home-field game against reigning title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a half-hour first-half hat-trick.

The team for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as English and Anfield striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

In total, the former Premier League players have secured fifteen major honors and transferred for total transfer fees of around £123m.

Famous Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Republic of Ireland caps, scoring 4 goals

Stephen Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this summer through good friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then invited additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly nine-a-side match, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese striker Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 top-flight matches for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his first appearance versus the opposition - who are based in Liverpool and wear an Blue training kit as their strip.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'join and have a game, it's enjoyable'," said the striker.

"Then he informed me we were facing a side from the city and the shock I had when I noticed them sporting Everton kits - I thought this is wrong for me!

"When you still enjoy the game and you know you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?

"The people who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a moment if they see us competing there and to pose us queries - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

So great is the strength in depth at the club, he made his debut at defender.

"That's a little unusual but then, I love running and just move inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

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

"That running is what I'm after. It's enjoyable."

Maynor Figueroa in action
Former Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa is playing for Wythenshawe

'Surreal Experience

In addition to Cisse's 6 scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for Wythenshawe, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by trade, notched a triple in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Top Tier with three wins from three and a goal difference of +19.

Paul Barrow, thirty-eight, who features on the wing for Collegiate OB, came up against former Latics full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young son who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for his country, in addition to featuring in more than 200 Premier League matches.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," said Barrow.

"I felt I was a little starstruck playing against him to be honest.

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

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

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

"They were all friendly, shaking our hands after the game - it was like facing a group of regular fellas.

"Now we are eager for the second match."

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby coaches the opposition veterans side, who secured the Top Tier title the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 up and had a

Jessica Rodriguez
Jessica Rodriguez

A Berlin-based journalist specializing in luxury travel and sustainable business practices, with over a decade of experience in European media.