Usain Bolt Open to Joining English Veterans Team Featuring Former Premier League Players
Every few months, football gives us a story that sounds completely made up — until you realise it’s actually real. This might be one of those.
Usain Bolt, the fastest man in history and a lifelong football obsessive, has said he’d be open to pulling on the boots again — this time for a veterans side in England that’s quietly become one of the most surreal teams on the internet: Wythenshawe FC Vets.
Yes, that’s a real team. And no, this isn’t Soccer Aid.
A veterans team that reads like a 2016 Premier League squad list
Wythenshawe’s veterans side has gone viral because their team sheet looks less like Sunday football and more like a throwback fantasy draft.
Among the former top-flight names reportedly involved are:
- Danny Drinkwater
- Marc Albrighton
- Papiss Cissé
- Stephen Ireland
- Oumar Niasse
- Antonio Valencia
- Joleon Lescott
- Danny Simpson
- Emile Heskey
That’s not a charity XI. That’s a full squad of players who’ve played — and in some cases won titles — at the highest level of English football.
Unsurprisingly, results have been… slightly unfair.
The team have reportedly started the season with five wins from five and a goal difference that looks like a video game stat line rather than a real league table.
Where Bolt fits into this
Bolt has never pretended football was just a hobby. After retiring from athletics, he trained with professional clubs, chased a contract in Australia, and has repeatedly said he still loves the idea of playing competitively — just without the pressure of making a top-level career out of it.
That’s why this link actually makes sense.
A veterans side full of ex-pros, playing competitive but lower-intensity football, with big crowds and huge social media attention? That’s basically the perfect environment for Bolt to enjoy the game without it turning into a circus trial story all over again.
He hasn’t signed anything, and nobody serious is claiming a deal is done. But the key point is this: he’s publicly open to it — if he can get himself fit enough.
And knowing Bolt, he’s not stepping on a pitch unless he feels he can actually contribute.
Why this story has blown up
It’s the crossover that makes it irresistible.
You’ve got:
- The most famous sprinter of all time
- A non-league veterans team
- A dressing room full of former Premier League names
- Scorelines that look fake
It’s nostalgia, chaos and pure football romance rolled into one.
For the players already there, it’s a fun second act. For Bolt, it’s another chapter in his long, stubborn love story with football. And for fans? It’s the kind of content that feels like it was written by Football Twitter after midnight.
Except this time, it might actually happen.
If Bolt does show up in a Wythenshawe shirt, even for one match, you can guarantee one thing: the clips won’t just go viral — they’ll break the algorithm.
Published by Patrick Jane
01.02.2026