Columbia University professors identify crucial part of the brain damaged by heading in football

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 26 Sep 2025 03:35 CDT
• 4 min read

News

Over the last 20 years, the subject of heading in football/soccer has come to the forefront due to the increased knowledge of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy).

For over a century, heading the ball in football has been a major part of the game. Whether it's a player clearing a cross from their own box, two players in an aerial duel or even a striker firing home a last-minute winner from the air, heading is as much a part of football as passing or shooting.

It is actually the frequency that players of all levels head the ball that has led to discussions over safety, particularly with regard to children.

Twenty years ago, it was the norm for players of all ages and levels to head the ball not only during matches, but during training as well. In modern times, youth coaches have been warned to minimise heading in matches, where possible, and completely ban heading from training altogether.

As of the 2026/27 season, the English Football Association will ban all "deliberate" heading of the ball for matches featuring Under 11s.

These bans come after studies found direct links between heading the ball and damage to the brain felt in later life.

In a new study completed by Colombia University in the United States, it has been determined that excessive heading of the ball damages the "junction" between grey and white matter in the outermost layer of the brain just behind the forehead.

This damage leads to "cognitive deficits".

Michael Lipton, MD, PhD, professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, explains:

“What’s important about our studies is that they show, really for the first time, that exposure to repeated head impacts causes specific changes in the brain that, in turn, impair cognitive function.

"We're especially interested in looking at the potential relationship between these biomarkers and the later development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease that has been diagnosed in athletes who experienced many head impacts over their playing careers.

"The location of the abnormalities we report is remarkably similar to CTE pathology, though we don't yet know if they are linked to CTE or if any of these currently healthy athletes will develop CTE."

The study from Columbia University, which was posted Neurology and JAMA Network Open journals details that "the most fervent headers of the ball—reporting more than 1,000 headers each year—had significantly greater microstructural damage in white matter near the brain’s cerebral sulci in the orbitofrontal cortex, just behind the forehead. Sulci are located in the valleys between folds of the cerebral cortex. Only minor changes in white matter regions were seen in deeper regions of the brain.

"Similarly, the most frequent headers also had significantly fuzzier transitions between gray and white matter in the orbitofrontal region, but not in other regions toward the back of the brain."

Professor Lipton says that his team found evidence that the less you head the ball, the less damage you receive to the brain, but warned against using that as a general rule.

“We don’t have enough information to make generalised recommendations,” he insists

“But when we divided the players into four groups according to their heading frequency, we found that the players who only headed the ball about twice a week looked similar to the non-contact athletes in our study.”

What is CTE?

The concept of CTE was thrust into public consciousness by concussion expert Dr Bennet Omalu, who published findings on an autopsy he did on former NFL player Mike Webster back in 2002.

Webster, who was a Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Steelers star, suffered amnesia, depression and dementia before his death at the age of 50.

Prior to Omalu's findings, CTE had only really been discussed as a threat to the lives of boxers who naturally receive numerous blows to the head.

The NFL did not truly embrace and acknowledge the link between the vigours of playing American Football and CTE until 2016 when the NFL's senior vice president for health and safety policy, Jeff Miller, testified before Congress, recognising that changes had to be made.

Football/Soccer must change

Omalu believes that football/soccer is going down the same route as the NFL as heading the ball really does present danger to players, particularly in later life.

"Science has shown over the centuries that whenever the human head is exposed to repeated blows, there is a 100 per cent risk of brain damage," the professor told GOAL in 2017.

"Knowing what we know today, there is no reason why a child today should be jumping up and slamming his head to try to stop a ball travelling at a high velocity. That is silly. No matter how much we may be in love with soccer, the question we need to ask ourselves is: which is more important, the life of a child or the excitement of soccer?

"Which do we value more? Life or the fleeting moments of ecstasy? Obviously there is no question about it: life comes first.

"Children under the age of 18 should not be heading the ball. Children under the ages of 12 to 14 should not be playing soccer as we play it today because their brains are not sufficiently developed to handle soccer. They should play a new type of soccer that should be developed by the soccer leagues where there is less contact, less dribbling, less players and a bigger and lighter ball.

"If we refuse to acknowledge the truth of science, the long-term sustainability of soccer as an industry would be in doubt."