Former footballers are more likely to die from neurodegenerative disease, study finds

Former professional football (soccer) players are more likely to die from neurodegenerative disease than the general population but less likely to die from other common causes such as lung cancer, a study has found.1

In response, the Football Association (FA) has called for more research to see whether the findings relate to the “modern day professional footballer.”

Researchers from the University of Glasgow compared differences in mortality from neurodegenerative disease between former professional Scottish football players and the general population.

The FIELD study included 7676 former footballers born from 1900 to 1976 and 23 028 matched controls from the general population. Over the 18 year study 1180 former …