Is FIFA Banning Headers?

FIFA's current position on headers (2026)

The Laws of the Game, maintained by IFAB rather than FIFA alone, contain no restriction on heading the ball. Heading remains legal at every level of the senior game, and there is no active IFAB proposal to remove it.

FIFA's public position has been to support concussion protocol reform — permanent concussion substitutions, stricter return-to-play criteria and independent pitchside assessment — rather than to regulate heading itself. The distinction matters: the governing bodies are targeting the management of head injuries, not the act of heading.

What restrictions actually exist

• US Soccer: heading is prohibited in matches and training for players aged 10 and under. For U12 and U13 it is limited in training, and it becomes unrestricted from U15.
• The English FA: heading is removed from training for children under 12 and phased in gradually from U12 upward. Since 2021 the FA has also issued adult guidance recommending no more than 10 higher-force headers per week in training.
• Scottish FA: no heading in training for children under 12, plus restrictions on heading the day before and the day after a match for professionals.
• Irish FA and others: similar under-12 training restrictions have been adopted across several European associations.

None of these are FIFA bans. They are national association policies, and they apply almost entirely to training volume rather than to match play.

The complete age-by-age breakdown is on our youth heading rules page.

The research driving the debate

The most influential study is the 2019 FIELD research from the University of Glasgow, which compared 7,676 former Scottish professional footballers against more than 23,000 matched members of the public and found the footballers were roughly three and a half times more likely to die from a neurodegenerative disease.

Subsequent work has refined the picture. Risk appears concentrated in outfield players rather than goalkeepers, and to rise with career length — both of which point to cumulative heading volume as the mechanism rather than any single impact.

Separate research into subconcussive impacts — hits that do not cause concussion symptoms — has found short-term changes in neurochemical markers and balance after heading sessions, though the long-term significance of those findings is still being established.

Our full review of the evidence is on the science of heading page.

Why elite professional football is unlikely to ban headers

Three reasons. First, heading is structurally embedded in the sport — set pieces, crosses, goal kicks, defensive clearances and pressing traps all depend on aerial contests. Removing it would change the geometry of the game more than any rule change in its history.

Second, the risk data concerns careers of accumulated exposure, and the largest share of a professional's lifetime headers comes from training repetition, not matches. Capping training volume addresses most of the exposure at a fraction of the cost.

Third, professional players are adults who can consent to a known occupational risk under an informed protocol — the regulatory logic is different from that applied to children.

What "safer heading" looks like in practice

• Volume caps: a limited number of higher-force headers per week, tracked by coaching staff.
• Neck strength work: a stronger neck reduces head acceleration on impact. Two short sessions per week is the standard recommendation.
• Correct ball pressure and size: over-inflated or age-inappropriate balls raise impact force significantly.
• Technique first: flat forehead, braced neck, eyes open, trunk driving through the ball. Poor technique means higher force and more risk.
• Progressive introduction: balloons and soft balls before match balls when teaching young players.

For the technique itself, start with how to head a soccer ball.