Heading Toward Trouble? Soccer ‘Headers’ Acutely Raise Brain Damage Biomarkers
Researchers found 56 headers per match on average, and players with more or harder impacts showed larger rises in brain injury markers.
- On Monday, May 18, 2026, Dutch researchers published a study in JAMA Neurology reporting that amateur soccer players exhibit elevated blood biomarkers linked to brain damage following headers during matches.
- Research indicates a high-velocity header delivers up to 500 lb of force and 70 G of acceleration to the head, similar to forces that cause degenerative neurologic disease historically described as "punch-drunk syndrome" in boxers.
- Analyzing 302 amateur players, the study identified dose-dependent increases in blood biomarkers p-tau217 and S100B after headers, with high-impact headers exceeding 20 meters showing more dramatic elevations.
- Although biomarker levels returned to baseline within 48-hours, Dr. Peter Theobald, Reader in Biomedical Engineering at Cardiff University, noted the study adds emerging evidence that modest impacts elicit negative brain responses.
- In 2016, the Soccer Federation banned heading for players under 10 to reduce injury risk; however, Perry Wilson, an associate professor of medicine, suggests such rule changes are unlikely to meaningfully reduce long-term dementia risk.
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Research by Amsterdam UMC shows that amateur footballers have substances in their blood after heading the ball that indicate acute brain damage. Exercise scientist Marloes Hoppen: "Through the sum of all studies, the pieces of the puzzle are increasingly falling into place."
Amateur footballers have substances in their blood after heading the ball that indicate acute brain damage. The more often they head the ball and the harder the header, the higher...
It might seem harmless, heading a ball away as an amateur footballer. But new research from Amsterdam shows that brain damage occurs almost immediately. Even a few headers cause measurable changes in biomarkers indicating acute damage to brain cells. The effects disappear from the blood within two days, but researchers at Amsterdam UMC warn […] More science? Read the latest articles on Scientias.nl.
Not only football professionals, but also amateur players are in danger: biomarkers in the blood bear witness to the injury of the brain tissue even after a single head blow.
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Heading the ball causes players to temporarily have substances in their blood that can indicate acute brain damage. Amsterdam UMC investigated this in collaboration with the KNVB in amateur football. The more often and harder a player headed the ball, the greater the effect visible in the blood.
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