No hands…and no heads: An argument to end heading in soccer at all levels

Soccer sits at a troubling crossroads. With each passing year, the damage the game poses to its players’ brains becomes increasingly evident.1 The sport’s governing bodies, however, have in the author’s view reacted slowly and ineffectually, instituting weak concussion protocols – such as those revealed during the 2018 FIFA World Cup to be nothing more than “eye candy”2 – and altering some rules for children playing the game.

For the good of soccer and its participants, far more must be done. In this author’s opinion, and based on research set out below, the act of heading, which presents the risk of both concussive and sub-concussive blows, must be eliminated from soccer at all levels. Anything less exposes soccer and its institutions to the litigation and public relations consequences the United States of America’s National Football League (the NFL) has endured.