Introduce the Sunday League Squad Featuring Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for the team Vets in a 6-2 victory against their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a excellent veteran team who have won back-to-back championships, featuring a double triumph boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?

Bring in a collection of former professionals that have played at the highest level of club and global soccer as you target additional honors.

One Manchester side boasts an non-professional vets squad with nine former top-flight footballers in their present lineup.

222 Premier League Goals, Three Hundred Twenty-Five Global Appearances

Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are based in southern Manchester and compete in the Cheshire Veterans League Premier Tier.

The lineup this season features 9 former top-flight footballers, with a collective nearly 1,800 Premier League games.

The elite roster also contains over 220 top division scores and over 320 global caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored 37 scores in over 100 games for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home game versus reigning title holders Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two win - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

The team for this season also features former pros such as English and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley winger George Boyd, Toffees forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic full-back Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City pair Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and top-flight title victors Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the former Premier League footballers have won 15 significant honors and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Household Names and Global Players

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned six Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring four scores

Stephen Ireland began playing for the team during pre-season this season through good friend and present Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish player then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek nine-a-side match, to participate.

Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who netted twelve scores in sixty-five top-flight games for Everton and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also had his debut against the opposition - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"My mate Stephen said 'join and play, it's a laugh'," commented the striker.

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

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

"The fans who turn up and watch are happy and to make someone's moment if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can play, with structure of course."

So great is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at defender.

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

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

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

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

Dreamlike' Experience

Along with the forward's six scores on debut, Ireland has scored eight in 3 appearances for the side, while George Boyd hit five on his first appearance and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a hat-trick in one match up front.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with 3 wins from 3 and a GD of +19.

One opponent, 38, who plays on the wing for the opposition, came up against former Latics defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at 2 global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in over 200 top-flight games.

"The news was spreading like a rumor they had these former top-flight stars," said Barrow.

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

"Also Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd English caps.

"We competed well for a solid 20 minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was hard.

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

"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like playing a group of normal guys.

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

'We'll Still Take the Title'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Top Tier championship the previous campaign, along with Paul Maguire.

"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a

Christina Roach
Christina Roach

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