Olympic legend Usain Bolt joins Sunday league side

News

FT Desk

Usain Bolt has officially joined a Sunday league team that plays out of Manchester.

Wythenshawe Vets are based around Cheshire where a number of ex-footballers live and a number of them have turned out for the club recently.

Their 2025/26 squad included George Boyd, Papiss Cisse, Danny Drinkwater, Maynor Figueroa, Stephen Ireland, Jefferson Montero, Emile Heskey, Joleon Lescott, Oumar Niasse, Nedum Onuoha and Antonio Valencia and a lot of them are returning for 2026/27.

Now, they have the quickest man on the planet at their disposal.

Although Bolt is best known as the fastest sprinter in history, football has always been one of his favourite sports, and he played it recreationally while growing up.

After retiring from athletics, the Jamaican even tried to pursue football professionally. In 2018, he trained with the Australian club Central Coast Mariners and played in several pre-season matches. He scored two goals in a friendly against Macarthur South West United.

He is a regular in the SoccerAid charity match also, where he impressed with his speed and overall abilities compared to the other celebrities.

Bolt and Rooney up front?

Wayne Rooney previously indicated a desire to feature for Wythenshawe Vets.

The England and Man Utd legend has performed in charity matches such as SoccerAid too, but the Daily Mail previously reported he could return to competitive action with the non-league Over 35s side.

Stephen Ireland, previously of Manchester City and Stoke, says numerous ex-players have reached out to ask for a game:

"My phone hasn't stopped! I've got people going, 'how do I get involved, how do I sign up?' I just want to be wary of not bringing too many people, because I want it to be a mix of the proper old vets with maybe four or five pros each time. But it is great fun, even as an incentive during the week to prepare for it. That's what it's like now."

Papiss Cisse comedy

In November, Wythenshawe Vets went viral after Papiss Cisse missed a penalty, then missed the rebound then hit the resulting corner-kick straight into he side-netting.

He was laughing to himself at the misfortune and the clip subsequently went viral on social media.

What many viewers didn't see, however, was that the former Newcastle striker went on to score six second-half goals as Wythenshawe Vets won 13-0.

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