Usain Bolt Joins Wythenshawe Vets FC in Sunday League
Usain Bolt, the fastest man in history, is back chasing a ball again – this time on the Manchester Sunday league circuit.
The eight-time Olympic champion has been registered to play for Wythenshawe Vets FC, a veterans' side competing in the Premier Division of the Cheshire Veterans Football League. The Football Association's Full-Time website lists the 40-year-old Jamaican as part of the over-35s squad based in south Manchester.
This is no ordinary pub team. Wythenshawe Vets turned heads last season by piecing together a line-up stacked with former Premier League names, and the roll call this year is just as eye-catching.
- Emile Heskey, once England and Liverpool’s battering ram up front, is on the books.
- So is former Everton striker Oumar Niasse.
- Ex-Manchester United captain Antonio Valencia features, along with former Newcastle United forward Papiss Cisse.
- From the blue half of Manchester come Stephen Ireland and Nedum Onuoha, while Premier League title winners Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater add even more top-flight pedigree.
Now Bolt’s name sits among them, another star dropped into a Sunday league team sheet that reads like a nostalgia trip.
Bolt still owns the world records over 100m and 200m, both set in that unforgettable 2009 World Championships in Berlin. He walked away from athletics in 2017 and turned his attention to football, a long-stated ambition.
The experiment took him to Australia in 2018, where he scored twice in a friendly for A-League side Central Coast Mariners. He signed a contract with the club after turning down a two-year offer from Maltese outfit Valletta, but his spell there ended after just eight weeks.
Whether this latest move becomes anything more than a cameo remains to be seen. Wythenshawe have not yet officially announced Bolt’s registration and have been contacted for comment.
