Usain Bolt Joins Wythenshawe FC Veterans for Cheshire League
Usain Bolt, the fastest man in history, is poised for a very different kind of sprint – on a Sunday league pitch in Greater Manchester.
The eight-time Olympic champion, still the world-record holder over 100m and 200m, has appeared on the online squad list for Wythenshawe FC Veterans on the Football Association’s Full-Time website, hinting at an unlikely new chapter in his long-declared love affair with football.
From Olympic finals to Cheshire Veterans League
Wythenshawe FC Veterans play in the Cheshire Veterans League, but this is no ordinary veterans side scratching around for numbers on a Sunday morning. The squad is stacked with former Premier League names and seasoned professionals, and is managed by ex-Manchester City and Republic of Ireland midfielder Stephen Ireland.
Across recent seasons, their dressing room has read like a roll call from a mid-2010s Premier League matchday. Danny Drinkwater, Antonio Valencia, Joleon Lescott, Emile Heskey, Marc Albrighton, Nedum Onuoha and Papiss Cissé are among those to have pulled on the shirt. Between them, last season’s Wythenshawe squad boasted more than 1,800 English top-flight appearances.
Now, on paper at least, they have Bolt.
Bolt’s football itch never went away
Bolt, 40, has never hidden how much he wanted to be a footballer once the spikes were hung up. After his glittering athletics career ended following the 2017 World Championships, he tried to carve out a place in the professional game, most notably with Australian side Central Coast Mariners, where he featured in trial matches and scored twice in a pre-season friendly.
The Jamaican is a lifelong Manchester United supporter and has regularly turned out in Soccer Aid charity matches over the past decade, treating Old Trafford crowds to his trademark celebrations in a football kit rather than a sprint vest.
A move into the veterans game in Greater Manchester would fit neatly with that obsession: a global icon dropping into a local league, surrounded by ex-pros who once graced the biggest stages themselves.
Club silent as speculation grows
For now, it remains an intriguing entry on a squad list rather than an officially unveiled coup. Wythenshawe have yet to announce Bolt’s signing and have been contacted for comment.
If the listing is followed by the sight of that familiar tall frame and high-kneed stride on a windswept Sunday pitch, the Cheshire Veterans League could suddenly find itself with the most watched team sheet in amateur football.
