The governing body of football in the USA is recommending a ban on headers for players aged under 11 as part of its attempts to address concussions in the sport.
A group of US parents dropped a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation and Fifa on Monday that alleged the governing bodies were acting “carelessly and negligently” over nearly 50,000 concussions among American high school football players in 2010.
US Soccer will also limit the number of headers made in practice matches for players between the ages of 11 and 13 and undertake a safety awareness campaign on the issue.
This change will be implemented among all US youth national teams and its development academy.
In a statement US Soccer said: “Although these are recommendations, they are based on the advice of the US Soccer medical committee. Therefore US Soccer strongly urges that they be followed.”
Steve Berman, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the California case, said: “With the development of the youth concussion initiative by U.S. Soccer and its youth members, we feel we have accomplished our primary goal, and therefore do not see any need to continue the pursuit of the litigation.”
Several high-profile concussion cases, including that of Germany international Christoph Kramer in the 2014 World Cup Final, have placed the issue of football’s approach to the injury in the spotlight.
The family of former West Brom and England striker Jeff Astle have campaigned for inquiries into the links between heading footballs and brain disease, welcomed the verdict but warned that more should be done in the UK.
Astle’s widow, Laraine, told Sky News: “There is such an awful lot to be done. I've never felt this country has taken it seriously as the Americans. This is now a wake-up call.”
The FA last year updated its guidelines for concussions and head injuries in the professional game but no such changes have been made at a youth level.
