World governing body FIFA have known about the suspected link between football and brain damage since 1984 — when an article appeared in their own magazine highlighting the dangers of heading the ball.
Sportsmail can reveal how the authorities in charge of the global game have been aware of a potentially deadly problem for decades. Published in the official FIFA Magazine, the two-page article discusses the possibility of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — the condition now plaguing former footballers — and states ‘the only protection is to decrease the number of headings’.
It even highlights examples of players whose deaths were said to have been linked to playing football.