Meet this Sunday League Team Featuring 1,800 Premier League Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Vets in a six-two victory versus their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, another, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How do you improve a outstanding veteran side who have secured consecutive titles, featuring a double triumph with thirty wins from 32 games?

Recruit a raft of ex- pro players that have played at the elite level of club football and global soccer as you pursue more trophies.

A Manchester club fields an non-professional veterans team with 9 former Premier League footballers in their current lineup.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Top Division Scores, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Veterans Over-35s are based in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Vets League Top Division.

Their squad list this season features nine former Premier League footballers, with a collective over 1,800 top-flight games.

This star-studded squad also boasts 222 top division scores and over 320 international appearances.

They include Papiss Cisse, who notched thirty-seven goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for the team in their most recent home-field match against reigning champions their rivals and netted all six scores in a six-two victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period hat-trick.

Wythenshawe's roster for this season also includes former professionals such as England and Anfield forward Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- Premier League footballers have won fifteen big honors and moved for combined transfer fees of approximately £123 million.

Famous Names and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won 6 Irish caps, netting four goals

Ireland started playing for the team in pre-season this season through good friend and present team player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a midweek small-sided match, to join in.

Former Senegal forward Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 Premier League 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 wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and have a game, it's good fun'," said the striker.

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

"If you still love the game and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"Those fans who come and see are happy and to give someone's moment if they watch us playing there and to pose us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the squad depth at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.

"That's a little different but then, I love sprinting and just go forward - I'm not defending that much," he said.

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

"The running is what I'm looking for. It's enjoyable."

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

'Surreal Scenario

In addition to the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has scored 8 in three appearances for Wythenshawe, while George Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by position, scored a triple in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with 3 wins from three and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

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

Figueroa has played at two World Cups for Honduras, in as well as featuring in more than two hundred Premier League games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," said the player.

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

"Even Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd England appearances.

"We competed well for a good twenty mins but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

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

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

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

'We'll Still Take the League'

Andy Kirby manages the Collegiate vets side, who secured the Premier Tier championship the previous campaign, together with his co-manager.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Brianna Taylor
Brianna Taylor

A digital strategist and tech writer with over 8 years of experience in SEO and content creation.