LONDON - England is set to become the first country to formally limit heading in football training as part of a plan to tackle the game’s growing dementia crisis.
Charlotte Cowie, the Football Association’s head of medicine, told The Telegraph that guidelines would deal with coaches who hold “inappropriate” heading sessions. She added that heading was among “the most likely risk factors” for disproportionate dementia diagnoses among former players.
Last year, World Cup winner Geoff Hurst said there was a “strong, inarguable link” between heading and dementia after team-mates Nobby Stiles and Jack Charlton both lost their battles with the brain disease.
