Research shows increase in heading at international level since 1960s, adding to pressure...

[ASFN Admin]

The amount of heading in elite international football has increased since the 1960s, according to new research which further undermines the hope that players from the modern era are at a reduced dementia risk. Scientific research has already shown that brain function is disrupted by a short heading practice with a modern synthetic ball and this new study, on the basis of data collected by Stats Perform on behalf of the University of Glasgow, studied World Cups since 1966. Every match in that period was reviewed and, while the number of headed efforts on goal remained remarkably stable, there was a small increase in headed clearances and a large increase in headed passes. In total, there were an average of 71 headers per game between 1966 and 1990 but that had increased to 93 in the era from 1994 until the most recent World Cup in 2018. The Glasgow researchers have already proven a clear link between professional football and an increased risk of dying from a neurodegenerative disease. “These data demonstrate that, at the highest level of global soccer competition, headers are increasing in match play, reflecting an increase in headed passes,” said Dr Willie Stewart, the lead researcher at Glasgow. “As such, there is no evidence from these data that so called modern day soccer players, playing at the highest international level, might be at lower risk of neurodegenerative disease through reduced exposure to head impacts via heading in match play.” The findings will further increase the pressure on the football authorities to introduce set limits on heading in training, as proposed by the Telegraph’s ‘Tackle Football’s Dementia Scandal’ campaign and now the Professionals Footballers’ Association.

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