Discover the Sunday Division Team Boasting Nearly Two Thousand Top-Flight Appearances
What do you improve a stellar veteran squad that have secured back-to-back championships, including a league-cup double boasting thirty wins from 32 games?
Sign a collection of former pro players who have performed at the highest tier of club and global soccer as you target additional silverware.
A Manchester side fields an amateur veterans team with 9 ex- top-flight players in their active lineup.
222 Premier League Goals, 325 Global Appearances
Wythenshawe Vets Over 35s are situated in south the city and compete in the Cheshire Vets Division Premier Division.
Their squad list this season boasts 9 former top-flight players, with a combined nearly 1,800 Premier League games.
This star-studded roster also includes over 220 Premier League goals and over 320 international caps.
The squad feature one forward, who scored 37 scores in 117 games for his former club after moving to them for £9m from Bundesliga club Freiburg in 2012.
Cisse made his debut for Wythenshawe in their last home match versus defending champions Collegiate Old Boys and scored all six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour opening period triple.
The squad for this campaign also features ex- professionals such as English and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, Hull and Burnley FC midfielder George Boyd, Toffees striker Oumar Niasse, Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa, City duo Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha and Premier League championship winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.
Together, the ex- top-flight footballers have won fifteen big trophies and moved for total transfer fees of approximately £123m.
Well-Known Names and Global Stars
Ireland began playing for the side in pre-season this season through close friend and present Wythenshawe teammate Blake Norton, and the former Irish player then asked additional ex-pros, who all compete in a weekly small-sided game, to participate.
Former Senegalese forward Niasse, who scored twelve scores in 65 Premier League matches for Everton and still attends their matches at Goodison Park, also made his first appearance against Collegiate OB - who are located in the city and wear an Blue warm-up gear as their uniform.
"A friend Stephen Ireland said 'come and play, it's good fun'," said the striker.
"Then he informed me we were playing a side from Liverpool and the shock I had when I saw them wearing Everton kits - I say this is strange for me!
"If you still enjoy the game and you feel you can still do it, wherever you can play, what are you going to do?
"Those people who turn up and watch are pleased and to give a day if they watch us playing there and to ask us questions - it's more like the joy of us having somewhere we can enjoy football, with organisation of course."
Such is the bench strength at Wythenshawe, he had his debut at full-back.
"It's a little unusual but then, I love running and just move inside - I'm not defending that much," he said.
"I warn my defender 'I'm not hanging back' and that I'm just going to continue attacking.
"That running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."
'Surreal Experience
Along with the forward's 6 goals on his first game, Ireland has netted 8 in 3 games for the side, while Boyd hit 5 on his debut match and Lescott, a defender by position, notched a triple in one match up front.
The team are top of the Premier Tier with 3 victories from 3 and a GD of plus nineteen.
Paul Barrow, 38, who plays on the flank for the opposition, came up against former Wigan defender Figueroa on the weekend - and had to explain his nine-year-old boy who Heskey was.
Figueroa has played at 2 World Cups for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than 200 Premier League matches.
"It was going round like wildfire they had these ex-Premier League players," said the player.
"I think I was a little awestruck playing against him to be honest.
"Even Heskey got on and he's got 60-odd England appearances.
"We held our own for a good 20 mins but then we had a man sent off and it was hard.
"Our group literally haven't ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mother and sibling on the journey home.
"The opponents were all friendly, shaking our hands after the match - it was like facing a group of normal fellas.
"Now we are eager for the return match."
'We'll Still Take the League'
The manager coaches the opposition veterans team, who secured the Premier Tier title last season, along with his co-manager.
"Our team went one-nil ahead and had a