Meet this Weekend Division Team Boasting 1,800 Premier League Matches

Wythenshawe Vets bench during a match
The substitutes for the team Veterans in a 6-2 triumph versus their opponents on 19 October (from left to right) - one player, Papiss Cisse, a teammate, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey

How can you improve a stellar experienced side who have secured consecutive championships, including a double triumph boasting 30 wins from thirty-two games?

Bring in a raft of former pro players who have competed at the highest tier of club and international soccer as you aim for more honors.

A Manchester team fields an amateur vets squad with 9 former Premier League footballers in their present roster.

Two Hundred Twenty-Two Premier League Goals, 325 Global Caps

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

The roster this season boasts 9 ex- Premier League footballers, with a total nearly 1,800 elite games.

The star-studded roster also contains 222 top division goals and 325 global appearances.

The squad include Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club SC Freiburg in January 2012.

He made his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their most recent home match against defending title holders their rivals and scored all six goals in a six-two victory - featuring a half-hour first-half triple.

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

Together, the ex- Premier League footballers have secured fifteen major honors and transferred for total transfer sums of around £123 million.

Household Figures and Global Stars

Stephen Ireland in action
He earned 6 Republic of Ireland appearances, scoring four goals

Ireland started turning out for the team during pre-season this summer through good mate and present team player Blake Norton, and the former Irish midfielder then asked other former professionals, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.

Former Senegal forward Oumar Niasse, who scored 12 scores in 65 Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in Liverpool and use an Blue training kit as their strip.

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

"A friend Stephen Ireland told me 'join and play, it's enjoyable'," commented the striker.

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

"If you still love football and you know you can still play, wherever you can kick a ball, what are you going to choose?

"Those fans who turn up and watch are pleased and to give someone's moment if they see us playing there and to ask us questions - it's really about the pleasure of us getting somewhere we can enjoy football, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at Wythenshawe, Niasse had his first game at defender.

"That's a bit different but then, I enjoy sprinting and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he added.

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

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

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

Dreamlike' Scenario

In addition to the forward's six goals on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in three games for the side, while George Boyd scored five on his debut match and Joleon Lescott, a defender by position, scored a triple in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are top of the Premier Division with 3 victories from 3 and a goal difference of plus nineteen.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for Collegiate OB, came up against former Wigan full-back Figueroa on Sunday - and had to tell his young boy who Emile Heskey was.

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

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

"I felt I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.

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

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

"We literally have not ceased chatting about it - I was calling my mum and brother on the journey home.

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

"Now we are eager for the second fixture."

We Will Still Win the Title'

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

"We went 1-0 up and had a

Christopher Gordon
Christopher Gordon

A passionate gamer and writer, Elara shares expert insights on strategy games and community building.