Professional footballers in Scotland will be banned from heading the ball the day before and the day after matches, following research linking repetitive heading to brain damage. The Scottish Football Association (SFA) has also advised clubs to limit heading training to one session per week.
The guidance, which takes immediate effect, comes after a landmark study found former professional footballers are three and a half times more likely to die from dementia and other neurological diseases. The SFA said the goal is to reduce the potential cumulative effect of heading by limiting exposure in training.
Exercises involving repeated heading, such as crossing, finishing, and set-piece practices, will be prohibited on match days and the day before or after. The move follows a 2020 ban on heading for children under 12, making Scotland the first European country to introduce such a measure. Last year, English clubs restricted footballers to 10 “higher-force” headers per week in training.
SFA doctor John MacLean noted that memory impairment lasting 24 to 48 hours has been observed after a series of headers, and brain-related proteins can be detected in blood samples temporarily. The guidelines were developed after consulting 50 men’s and women’s professional teams, with over 70% supporting the changes.
The 2019 University of Glasgow study, co-funded by the FA and the Professional Footballers’ Association, found former professionals were five times more likely to die from Alzheimer’s and four times more likely to die from motor neurone disease compared to the general population. However, it did not establish whether the cause was repeated concussions or other factors.
Dawn Astle, whose father Jeff Astle died from an industrial disease caused by heading heavy leather footballs, called the SFA’s guidance “another landmark ruling for the dementia in football campaign.”
