Premier League gets header limit through Fa - Kicker

After ten headers in the week is a conclusion: Like the English Football Association Fa announced on Wednesday, there is new guidelines for the protection of players and players for the entire English football business - professional as amateur - from the season 2021/22. For example, a maximum of ten head balls "with higher force" should be carried out in a training week per athlete, so accepted after long balls (loud FA further than 35 meters), free kicks, corner balls and flanks. In the amateur and youth domain, headballs in training are also to be reduced, for under-eleven-year-old they are completely prohibited in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Five world champion of 1966 suffering from dementia

Triggers of this new scheme include studies of the Universities of Nottingham and London to potential long-term sequences for football professionals by playing the ball with their heads. In these, former players are examined for early signs of neurocognitive disorders. In addition, the topic was discussed in England last year when Bobby Charlton (83) was already diagnosed with the fifth English world champion of 1966 dementia.

Periodic review

In 2019, a Study of the University of Glasgow had shown that former football professionals have an increased risk of dying at dementia or Parkinson. This should now counteract the new rules, even if so far no direct connection between the diseases and headballs has been detected. "This recommendation serves to protect the player's well-being and is regularly reviewed when further investigations are carried out to learn more about the effects of header in football," explained the Fa.

Another measure of the association is recommended player profiles that every club is to lead: in it, the gender as well as age, position, number and type of head balls per game should be recorded. This should ensure that the headballs in training are similar in their style and frequency to those in a game. While the new guidelines are recommended for all clubs of all LIGEN, the team is found in the professional one to four (men) and the Women's Championship "to follow the regulations as far as practicable".

FBS / DPA