Soccer headers may harm brain: Study

Technology Sep 27, 2025

A new Columbia University study says heading the ball in soccer isn't as harmless as it looks—it can actually cause subtle microstructural changes in the brain.
Researchers found that frequent headers may disrupt important brain areas, leading to small drops in verbal learning performance, especially for adult amateur players.

MRI scans reveal key differences

Using advanced MRI scans, scientists spotted changes in the part of the brain that handles planning and strategy.
They compared heavy headers with non-contact athletes and saw clear differences at the gray-white matter boundary.
The team hopes these findings will help create safer training guidelines and better ways to track heading exposure for each player.