Usain Bolt's Potential Return to Veterans' Football in Manchester
Usain Bolt, the fastest man in history, is poised for an unlikely return to the pitch – in Greater Manchester’s Sunday league scene.
The eight-time Olympic champion’s name has appeared on the online squad list for Wythenshawe FC Veterans on the Football Association’s Full-Time website, hinting that the sprint icon could soon be lining up in the Cheshire Veterans League.
From world records to veterans’ football
Bolt, now 40, still owns the 100m and 200m world records, but his long-stated love of football has never really faded. After hanging up his spikes following the 2017 World Championships, he chased a professional football dream, briefly turning out for Australian side Central Coast Mariners.
The Jamaican is a committed Manchester United supporter and has become a familiar figure in the Soccer Aid charity matches over the past decade, where his pace and personality have regularly stolen the show.
A move into veterans’ football, though, would be something different. More grounded. More grassroots. And yet the team he is linked with is anything but ordinary.
A Sunday league side stacked with Premier League experience
Wythenshawe FC Veterans are no typical Sunday league outfit. Managed by former Manchester City and Republic of Ireland midfielder Stephen Ireland, the side is loaded with ex-Premier League names.
- Danny Drinkwater
- Antonio Valencia
- Joleon Lescott
- Emile Heskey
- Marc Albrighton
- Nedum Onuoha
- Papiss Cissé
have all featured for the club. Between them, last season’s squad boasted more than 1,800 English top-flight appearances – an extraordinary haul for a veterans’ team.
Drop Bolt into that dressing room and it becomes one of the most star-studded amateur squads anywhere in the country.
For now, though, his presence is only digital. His name sits on the FA’s Full-Time player list, a tantalising hint rather than a confirmed signing.
Wythenshawe have not yet announced Bolt’s arrival and have been contacted for comment. Until they speak, the sight of the world’s fastest man in a veterans’ league remains one of football’s most intriguing what-next stories.
