Discover this Sunday Division Team With Nearly Two Thousand English Top Division Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
This substitutes for Wythenshawe Vets in a 6-2 win versus Collegiate Old Boys on 19 October (left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

What can you enhance a outstanding experienced squad who have won back-to-back championships, including a double triumph with 30 wins from 32 games?

Bring in a collection of ex- pro players who have performed at the highest tier of club football and global soccer as you target further silverware.

A Greater Manchester side fields an non-professional veterans squad with 9 ex- top-flight footballers in their present roster.

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

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

Their lineup this season boasts 9 former top-flight players, with a combined nearly 1,800 top-flight matches.

The elite squad also contains over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international caps.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who scored thirty-seven scores in 117 games for Newcastle United after joining them for £9m from Bundesliga side SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his debut for the team in their last home-field game against defending champions their rivals and scored all six scores in a 6-2 victory - featuring a 32-minute opening period triple.

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

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have claimed 15 big trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of around £123 million.

Well-Known Figures and International Stars

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

Ireland began turning out for the side in preseason this season through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other ex-pros, who all play in a weekly nine-a-side game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese forward Oumar Niasse, who netted 12 scores in 65 top-flight games for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"My friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's good fun'," commented the striker.

"Then he told me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I noticed them wearing Everton shirts - I say this is wrong for me!

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

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

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse made his debut at defender.

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

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

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

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

'Surreal Feeling

Along with the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in three games for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his first appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a hat-trick in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Tier with three victories from three and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced ex- Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa on the weekend - and had to tell his nine-year-old boy who Emile Heskey was.

Figueroa has appeared at two World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in over two hundred top-flight games.

"It was going round like a rumor they had these ex-Premier League players," said the player.

"I think I was a little starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

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

"We competed well for a good 20 mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.

"Our group literally have not stopped chatting about it - I was phoning my mum and sibling on the journey home.

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

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

We Will Still Win the League'

The manager coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Premier Division championship last season, along with Paul Maguire.

"We went 1-0 up and had a

Lisa Wright
Lisa Wright

A data scientist and betting analyst with over a decade of experience in sports statistics and predictive modeling.