Meet the Sunday Division Team Featuring 1,800 Top-Flight Matches

What do you boost a excellent veteran team who have claimed back-to-back titles, including a league-cup double with thirty wins from 32 games?

Recruit a group of former professionals who have performed at the top tier of club football and global soccer as you pursue more silverware.

A Greater Manchester team has an non-professional veterans squad with 9 ex- Premier League footballers in their current squad.

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

The team Veterans Over 35s are based in southern the city and play in the Cheshire Veterans Division Top Tier.

Their squad list this campaign includes 9 former top-flight players, with a collective 1,801 elite games.

This star-studded squad also includes over 220 Premier League scores and 325 international caps.

They feature Papiss Cisse, who netted 37 goals in over 100 appearances for his former club after moving to them for £9m from German league club SC Freiburg in 2012.

Cisse had his first appearance for Wythenshawe in their last home-field game versus defending champions their rivals and scored every one of the six scores in a six-two victory - including a half-hour opening period hat-trick.

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

In total, the former top-flight footballers have secured fifteen significant trophies and transferred for combined transfer fees of approximately £123m.

Household Names and International Stars

Ireland started turning out for the team during preseason this summer through close mate and current Wythenshawe player Blake Norton, and the ex- Republic of Ireland player then invited additional former professionals, who all play in a midweek small-sided game, to participate.

Ex- Senegalese striker Niasse, who scored twelve goals in sixty-five Premier League matches for the Toffees and even now goes to their home games, also made his debut against the opposition - who are located in Liverpool and wear an Everton warm-up gear as their strip.

"A mate Stephen Ireland told me 'come and play, it's good fun'," said Niasse.

"After that he informed me we were playing a team from the city and the surprise I had when I noticed them sporting Blue shirts - I thought this is strange for me!

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

"Those people who come and watch are pleased and to make someone's moment if they see us playing there and to ask us queries - it's really about the pleasure of us having a place we can play, with structure of course."

Such is the strength in depth at the club, Niasse made his first game at defender.

"It's a little unusual but then, I love sprinting and just go inside - I'm not staying back that much," he said.

"I warn my defender 'I'm not staying' and that I'm just going to keep running.

"The running is what I'm seeking. It's good fun."

'Surreal Scenario

Along with Cisse's six scores on debut, Stephen Ireland has scored 8 in 3 games for the side, while George Boyd hit 5 on his first match and Lescott, a centre-half by trade, scored a triple in one game as a striker.

Wythenshawe are leading of the Top Tier with three wins from 3 and a GD of +19.

Paul Barrow, 38, who features on the flank for the opposition, faced former Wigan full-back Maynor Figueroa on Sunday - and had to explain his young son who Heskey was.

He has appeared at two global tournaments for Honduras, in addition to playing in more than 200 Premier League games.

"It was spreading like wildfire they had all these former top-flight stars," remarked the player.

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

"Also Heskey came on and he's has 60-odd English caps.

"We competed well for a solid twenty minutes but then we had a man sent off and it was tough.

"We really haven't ceased talking about it - I was phoning my mother and brother on the way home.

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

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

'We'll Still Take the League'

The manager manages the opposition veterans side, who won the Top Division championship last season, together with his co-manager.

"We scored 1-0 up and had a