Primary school kids banned from heading football - here's when it comes into force

Kids under the age of 12 in the Portsmouth area and the rest of the country will not be allowed to head the ball in training sessions.

The FA in England, as well as the associations in Scotland and Northern Ireland, announced the ban today.

The changes to heading guidance for primary aged children comes in the wake of the FIELD study which showed former footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the general population.

Under the FA’s new guidance there will be no heading at all in the ‘foundation phase’ - this relates to children under the age of 12.

There will also now be a graduated approach to heading in training in under-12s to under-16s football.

However the FA have said that there will be no change in terms of heading in matches, taking into consideration the extremely limited number of headers which actually occur in youth matches.

The FIELD study did not state that heading a ball was the cause of the increased prevalence of neurodegenerative conditions among footballers, but the decision to update the guidelines has been taken to ‘mitigate against any potential risks’, the FA said in a statement.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham added: ‘This updated heading guidance is an evolution of our current guidelines and will help coaches and teachers to reduce and remove repetitive and unnecessary heading from youth football.

‘Our research has shown that heading is rare in youth football matches, so this guidance is a responsible development to our grassroots coaching without impacting the enjoyment that children of all ages take from playing the game.’

The associations said the guidance had been produced in parallel with UEFA's medical committee, which is seeking to produce Europe-wide guidance later this year.