The Football Association Has announced updated Heading Guidance for all age groups between Under 6 and Under 18, in association with the Irish and Scottish FAs.

The updated Heading Guidance, which will be introduced immediately, will provide grassroots Clubs, Coaches and Players with the recommended heading guidance for training sessions. The guidance does not make any changes to the way matches are played.

Following the publication of The FA and PFA joint-funded FIELD study in October 2019, The FA established the independently-chaired Research Taskforce to guide on possible changes to heading coaching, review concussion management protocols, and advise on future research projects.

Although there was no evidence in the FIELD study to suggest that heading the ball was the cause to the link with incidence of degenerative neurocognitive disease, to mitigate against any potential risks, the updated Heading Guidance has been produced in parallel with UEFA’s Medical Committee, which is seeking to publish Europe-wide guidelines later this year. The Irish FA and the Scottish FA will also adopt the same Heading Guidance.

The updated Heading Guidance includes:

• Heading Guidance in training for all age groups between Under 6 and Under 18

• No heading in training in the foundation phase [primary school children]

• Graduated approach to heading training for children in the development phase between Under 12 to Under 16

• Required ball sizes for training and matches for each age group

• No changes to heading in matches, taking into consideration the limited number of headers in youth games

FA Chief Executive, Mark Bullingham, said: "This updated Heading Guidance is an evolution of our current guidelines and will help coaches and teachers to reduce and remove repetitive and unnecessary heading from youth football.

"Our research has shown that heading is rare in youth football matches, so this guidance is a responsible development to our grassroots coaching without impacting the enjoyment that children of all ages take from playing the game."