The heading of a soccer ball—an intrinsic and routine feature of play in the world's most popular field sport—causes long-term damage to areas of the brain associated with learning, according to a new study being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

The researchers said most of the damage was found in the frontal lobe of the brain — beneath the part of the skull soccer players are taught to use to head the ball.

Soccer heading may cause more damage to the brain than previously thought, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Soccer heading may cause more brain damage than previously thought, according to a new study. Researchers from the Radiological Society of North America looked into the links between one of soccer’s commonplace practices — headbutting the ball — and neurodegenerative diseases such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

New research suggests that soccer 'headers' might be tied to brain changes that could also lead to CTE. Folks who had done a lot of headers showed changes in the brain's surface w

A new US study into repeated head impacts for footballers comes amid a campaign to ban heading from the game in Scotland.