Discover this Sunday League Team Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Premier League Games

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

What can you improve a stellar veteran side who have secured back-to-back titles, featuring a league-cup double boasting 30 victories from 32 matches?

Recruit a raft of former professionals who have competed at the elite level of club and global football as you pursue more silverware.

One Manchester team fields an amateur vets team with nine former Premier League footballers in their current roster.

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

The team Veterans Over 35s are situated in southern Manchester and play in the Cheshire-based Veterans Division Top Division.

Their squad list this season features nine ex- Premier League players, with a total 1,801 elite appearances.

The high-profile squad also contains 222 top division scores and over 320 international appearances.

The squad feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in over 100 games for his former club after signing for them for nine million pounds from German league club Freiburg in January 2012.

Cisse made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game against defending title holders their rivals and netted every one of the six scores in a 6-2 win - featuring a 32-minute first-half triple.

The squad for this season also features former pros such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull City and Burnley midfielder George Boyd, Everton forward Oumar Niasse, Wigan Athletic defender Maynor Figueroa, Manchester City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Collectively, the ex- top-flight footballers have won 15 significant trophies and transferred for total transfer sums of about £123m.

Well-Known Names and International Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He won six Irish appearances, scoring four scores

Ireland started playing for the side during preseason this season through good mate and present team teammate Blake Norton, and the ex- Irish midfielder then invited additional former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to join in.

Former Senegal striker Oumar Niasse, who scored twelve goals in 65 top-flight matches for the Toffees and still goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his debut against Collegiate OB - who are based in the city and use an Everton warm-up gear as their uniform.

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

"A mate Stephen told me 'join and play, it's good fun'," commented Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were facing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

"If you still love football 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 happy and to give a moment if they watch us competing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the joy of us getting a place we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."

Such is the bench strength at the club, Niasse had his first game at full-back.

"That's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

"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 good fun."

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

Dreamlike' Feeling

Along with the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has scored eight in three appearances for the side, while Boyd scored five on his debut appearance and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one game up front.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.

One opponent, thirty-eight, who plays on the flank for Collegiate OB, faced former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his nine-year-old son who Emile Heskey was.

He has appeared at two global tournaments for his country, in addition to playing in over 200 Premier League games.

"The news was going round like wildfire they had all these former top-flight players," said the player.

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

"Also Heskey got on and he's got over 60 England appearances.

"We held our own for a good twenty minutes but then we had a player sent off and it was tough.

"We really have not stopped talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.

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

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

We Will Still Take the League'

The manager coaches the Collegiate vets side, who won the Top Division title last season, together with Paul Maguire.

"Our team scored one-nil ahead and had a

Donna Martin
Donna Martin

A seasoned gaming journalist with over a decade of experience in reviewing online slots and sharing expert betting advice.

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