Depression and anxiety study delivers alarming message for football stars

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FT Desk

A new study has determined that professional footballers are more prone to anxiety and depression than the general population.

Imperial College London conducted the study on 124 former professional players aged between 30 and 60, 31% of whom scored in a range that suggested "clinically significant depression". That is 22% higher than a section of the population that have never played professional football.

The findings from the study were presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference. Former Premier League, Championship and Women's Super League players were tested, with the Football Association and Professional Footballers' Association providing funding to Imperial College London for the research.

The findings from the study come amid increasing concerns about the impact of heading in football and what it can do, long-term, to an athlete's brain.

This week, an inquest into the death of World Cup winner Nobby Stiles has been requested after a coroner determined that the World Cup winner died of a traumatic brain injury linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Stiles and former Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear were both diagnosed with CTE after their deaths, while in January, an inquest determined that Scotland and Manchester United star Gordon McQueen's brain disease and subsequent death in 2023 had been linked to repeatedly heading balls as a professional footballer.

Several other high-profile former footballers, including Celtic legend Billy McNeill, have suffered from dementia later in life after a career on the pitch.

Brain scans of football players revealed significant reductions in grey matter within multiple brain regions involved in memory, attention, decision-making, and emotional control.

The imaging also indicated an overall decrease in brain volume. Additionally, when participants assessed their own cognitive abilities, the footballers reported lower levels of thinking and decision-making skills compared with people who did not play football.

"This is the first and largest study of its kind looking at the brain health of retired football players in mid-life, and we are seeing these brain changes at a point before we could expect to see clinical symptoms," says Heather Snyder, senior vice-president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer's Association.

"The study raises the possibility that there may be things we can detect in the brains of individuals at an earlier time, and if we understand what is happening, we may be able to intervene and benefit their brain health.

"Findings like those in this study and others are going to inform players, clinicians, sports organisations, and parents, so that they really understand what may be a risk in contact sports and enable them to make decisions."

The English Football Association previously told the High Court that there is no proven link between heading a football and brain damage, as it responded to a legal claim by former players.

Ninety-six former footballers, including the family of Stiles, filed a claim with the High Court but the FA say that the hypothesis linking neurological damage with heading “remains unproven”.

The FA’s defence, first reported by The Daily Telegraph, stated: “It is denied that repeated heading of a football and/or repeated concussion has been established to cause permanent brain damage and/or long-term neurological damage.

“It is not established that either heading or concussive incidents experienced during football cause CTE and/or that any symptoms experienced by those subsequently diagnosed with CTE are likely to have been the result of CTE, and/or were the result of playing football.”

Despite these claims from the FA, they have previously banned heading in games and in training for children under the age of 11, while they continue to fund research into the issue.

"Former professional footballers are at much higher risk of degenerative brain diseases, dementias and related disorders," Professor Willie Stewart, a consultant neuropathologist at the University of Glasgow. told BBC Sport earlier this year.

"What we see is the risk is about three and a half times higher than it should be. There is a very unique change in the brain which only appears in athletes that we don't see in other individuals."

Twenty years ago and beyond, 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.

An FA spokeswoman said: “While the link between heading in football and long-term brain health remains the subject of ongoing scientific and medical research, we have consistently been at the forefront of efforts to help improve the safety of our game.

“We were the first governing body to introduce comprehensive heading guidelines across both professional and grassroots football, and we continue to review and enhance our game-wide concussion protocols in line with worldwide best practice.

“We have also invested in and actively supported multiple independent research projects, often resulting in groundbreaking and valuable insight, in order to gain a greater understanding of this complex area through objective, robust and thorough analysis.”

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FT Desk

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