Meet the Sunday League club full of ex-Premier League player attracting huge media attention for the 2025/26 season.
Wythenshawe FC Over 35s Veterans play in the Cheshire Veterans Football League Premier Division, sitting top of the table with 4 wins from 4 games, 12 points, and a +32 goal difference.
Their squad features 9 former Premier League players with 1,801 top-flight appearances, 222 Premier League goals, 325 international caps, 15 major trophies won and combined transfer fees of £123m.
Players include the likes of Papiss Cissé, Emile Heskey, George Boyd, Stephen Ireland, Nedum Onuoha, Danny Drinkwater, Maynor Figueroa, Joleon Lescott, Oumar Niasse.
At the weekend, they won 13-0 vs South Liverpool Vets (Cissé scoring 6 second-half goals), and a 6-2 win vs Collegiate Old Boys (Cissé scored all 6, including a 32-min hat-trick). Other results (including cup): 5-2, 7-1, 10-1, 9-1.
After back-to-back promotions and a league-cup double (30 wins in 32 games), the team recruited elite ex-pros to chase more silverware, and they look on course to do just that.
Ex Newcastle striker Papiss Cissé scored 7 goals in 1 half of football for Wythenshaw vets FC😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/dQKuRJXRtr
— The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) November 10, 2025
Oumar Niasse, Papiss Cisse, Marcel Edwards, Blake Norton, Maynor Figueroa, Dean Warburton and Emile Heskey
Wythenshawe FC have an over 35’s team that play Sunday League for them.
Some of the players included in the team are Papiss Cisse, Stephen Ireland, Emile Heskey, Maynor Figueroa and Oumar Niasse.
Imagine rocking up on a Sunday morning and seeing you’re facing these lot 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/9Qa2xUnGdx
— george (@StokeyyG2) October 21, 2025
Oumar Niasse said, per BBC Sport: “My friend Stephen Ireland said ‘come and play, it’s good fun’.
“Then he told me we were playing a team from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton shirts – I say this is wrong for me!
“When you still love football and you know you can still do it, anywhere you can play football, what are you going to do?
“The people who come and watch are happy and to make someone’s day if they see us playing there and to ask us questions – it’s more like the joy of us having somewhere we can play, with organisation of course.
“It’s a bit different but then, I love running and just go inside – I’m not defending that much,” he said.
“I tell my centre-back ‘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.”
Imagine facing this Sunday league side… 😳 pic.twitter.com/baYGZRJ8X1
— The Sun Football ⚽ (@TheSunFootball) November 9, 2025
Usual Sunday league scenes … pic.twitter.com/U7ctzF4hYD
— James Ducker (@TelegraphDucker) November 9, 2025
38 year old Collegiate OB player Paul Barrow, came up against full-back Figueroa on Sunday, he said: “It was going round like wildfire they had all these ex-Premier League players,” said Barrow.
“I think I was a bit starstruck facing Figueroa to be honest.
“Even Emile [Heskey] got on and he’s got 60-odd England caps.
“We held our own for a good 20 minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
“We literally haven’t stopped talking about it – I was phoning my mum and brother on the way home.
“They were all dead sound, shaking our hands after the game – it was like playing a bunch of normal fellas.
“Now we can’t wait for the return fixture.”
Just seen Papiss Cisse miss a penalty in Sunday League, hit the post, then take a corner that goes straight out.
Sensational work 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/0Cbn45YLsf
— Nathan Salt (@NathSalt1) November 9, 2025
In fairness to Papiss Cisse mind, he’s just claimed a second half double hat-trick with this beauty … 11-0 currently to Wythenshawe Vets v Liverpool South pic.twitter.com/GqxxHkFtTs
— James Ducker (@TelegraphDucker) November 9, 2025
Carl Barratt, chairman of Wythenshawe AFC, said: “We had 178 people here watching on Sunday – and that’s only going to grow.
“The vets team has always been successful and had a very good season last year.
“The funniest part of it all is that these players have been worth millions and my wife has been sending them letters to set up their subscriptions for their subs.
“She comes to me and says ‘we’ve signed someone called Emile Heskey’ and then we’re asking him for £15.”
Speaking to talkSPORT, he spoke on the recent addition of Heskey: “He came on for the last 15 minutes.
“It’s funny because our president John Walker has a stand named after him and he’s been there from the start.
“I looked across at one point and saw Emile Heskey wearing the shirt under the John Walker stand. That was like one of the best memories I’m ever going to have. Unbelievable.
“It’s mad we’ve got Lescott as well up front for us. Ireland is in centre midfield controlling everything.
“You look at some of the balls. A couple of times the ball pings from one side to the other and is brought down first time and you can actually hear the crowd.
😂 ‘If he ran 10K, we must’ve run 20!’
Wythenshawe Vets Over-35s squad list boasts nine former Premier League players
🤯 They have a combined 1,801 top-flight appearances.
🔊 Listen to defenders Marcel and Chappy who joined us on Total Sport #BBCFootball
— BBC Sport Manchester (@BBCRMsport) October 21, 2025
Hey, @WythenshaweFC, we’ve got another player for your vets team if you fancy it? 😂
Or if there’s a walking football team that needs a space filling, Chappers is ready for the call-up! ⚽️ @GlobalPlayer | https://t.co/g5c1SfbhHX pic.twitter.com/KiWQY7hJ1J
— The Sports Agents (@sportsagentspod) October 21, 2025
He lifted the lid on how the super team was formed: “To be honest we had a very good side last year. The lads there won 30 out of 32 games the only ones we lost were the two County Cups. One of the lads who knows the manager really well started talking, he’s good friends with Stephen Ireland,” Barratt said.
“He said this year, let’s go for the two County Cups we didn’t win and they started talking about it.
“In pre-season Papiss Cisse came down and Onuoha came down and started playing a few games.
“George Boyd is a Wythenshawe lad and he started playing pre-season and it’s just escalated and we’ve got nine signed on now, so two more and we’ve got a full eleven!
On it being all good nature regarding some complaints from opposing teams: “No, it’s just a bit of fun. If you’d watched the game on Sunday it was a very equal game.
“They went down to ten players but the quality in the Vets League is getting higher and higher.
“People don’t want to stop playing at 35 or 36 so the standard is very high in the Vets League so this is just adding to it and I know there’s a few other clubs that have got ex-pros playing for them as well.”
On their recruitment drive and the potential for other big names joining up with them: “I spoke to Stephen Ireland and he said, ‘mate we’ve got a few more lined up’. We can’t say who that is.
“We’ve got an established team and we can’t forget how good the team was prior to all these guys coming.
“Bu all the other lads on the sidelines are there enjoying it too.”
Here’s how fans reacted as we meet the Sunday League club full of ex-Premier League players attracting huge media attention…
@BalvinderBhogal: Petition to make an over 40’s Premier league
@howie82xx: Ireland looks fitter than he did when he played for Stoke
@Homebrewmanjp: Good on them lads for still playing. I’m 49 and still play every week. I’m not getting better mind 😂
@AccyForza: Disney should defo ditch @Wrexham_AFC for this mob
@Hopey_Media: I definitely need to get to a game. This is class
@RobPhillips26: Surely Pappis Cisse could do a job at @TranmereRovers
@Gazwarrington: Prefer to play against them than the goons who mic themselves up and/or have cameras on them …
@DaveGroundHops: Surely they’d do a job for the first team
@C_Rolfe81: Great to see. I wonder if Cisse wants to sign for Everton
@MarcusHob82: Heskey finally found his level.
@JackDrysda38325: Stephen Ireland what a throwback
@jamieeholmes: Oumar Niasse 🤣 He wasn’t even bad for us in league 1. I guess he just doesn’t care for football anymore
