Scott Vermillion is the first American soccer player to be diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Per Andrew Keh of the New York Times, Boston University doctors made the discovery after examining Vermillion's brain last year.
Vermillion, 44, died on Christmas Day in 2020. His family said, according to Keh, that his official cause of death was acute alcohol and prescription drug poisoning after he "spent the last decade of his life withdrawing from his family as he struggled with substance abuse and progressively erratic behavior."
This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.