Bolt registers to play for Manchester Sunday league team

What the report says

Eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt has been registered to play for Wythenshawe Vets FC, a veterans’ Sunday league side in Manchester, according to BBC Sport. The Full-Time website run by the Football Association lists the 40-year-old Jamaican sprinter as a player for the club, which competes in the Premier Division of the Cheshire Veterans Football League.

BBC Sport reports that Wythenshawe Vets, based in south Manchester, have drawn attention before for building squads that include former Premier League players. Their current lineup reportedly features ex-England and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey, former Everton forward Oumar Niasse, ex-Manchester United captain Antonio Valencia, and other well-known former professionals such as Papiss Cisse, Stephen Ireland, Nedum Onuoha, Joleon Lescott and Danny Drinkwater.

Bolt, widely regarded as the fastest man in history over 100m and 200m, retired from athletics in 2017 and later explored football opportunities. BBC Sport notes that he previously scored in a friendly for Australia’s Central Coast Mariners in 2018 and briefly signed with the club before leaving. Wythenshawe have not publicly announced his registration, and BBC Sport says the club was contacted for comment. The development is notable because it links one of sport’s most recognisable figures to an amateur veterans’ league with several former top-flight names.