Research presented at the July 2026 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London suggests that retired professional soccer players show signs of potential neurological impacts in midlife. The study found that former players were more likely to report anxiety, depression, and problems with thinking or decision-making compared to people who had not played contact sports.

Understanding the Risks

The research team looked at many measures of impact, including questionnaires, clinical assessments, and brain scans. Among the 142 former players, made up of 126 men and 16 women who ranged in age from 30 to 60, researchers did not find significant impacts on cognition, which includes skills like memory and attention. However, brain scans did show lower gray matter — the brain’s information processor — in regions that affect memory, decision-making, attention, and emotional regulation among the group of players compared to those participants who did not play contact sports.

The concern is really about repeated hits to the head over the course of a lifetime, said Dr. Michael Alosco, codirector of clinical research for the Boston University CTE Center and vice chair of research for neurology. In soccer, that can come from collisions, but an important source is when players hit the ball with their head, called a “header.”

Protecting Brain Health

In the United States, efforts have been implemented to protect brain health. The US Soccer Federation banned headers in 2016 for players younger than 10 and limited how long 11- to 13-year-olds could practice them each week. The goal is to make a safer sports environment, not to villainize sports, said Dr. Steven Broglio, director of the University of Michigan Concussion Center.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.