Tag Archives: football

July 12, 2026 · 3:54 pm

New research suggests soccer players may experience brain health changes in midlife

Soccer player wearing number 9 in blue and white stripes heading a ball mid-air on a sunny day

The World Cup has dominated the headlines over the last month and is set to wrap up over the next week. At the 2026 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, new research was shared that found some former soccer players have developed concerning changes in their brains in midlife. There’s no direct link established yet, but scientists are keen on conducting more research to determine if plays like headers, which involve hitting the ball with one’s head, increase the risk of brain issues later in life.

In the US, we are more aware of the dangers of playing American football and the damage that repeated concussions can have on the brain. Less research has been done on soccer, but that is now changing. In the latest study, 142 former professional soccer players from the UK were compared to a smaller control group who had not played contact sports or experienced repetitive head impacts. The study found “significantly higher symptoms of depression (31% in former soccer players vs 9% in control group), and anxiety (42% in former soccer players vs 25% for control group). The study also found that the former soccer players self-rated a worse “ability to plan, focus on and solve problems and manage daily tasks, compared to the control group.”

A review of brain scans of the 124 former soccer players found “lower gray matter volume in several brain regions, including frontal, cingulate and thalamic areas that play important roles in memory, attention, decision-making and emotional regulation, compared to controls.”

It should be noted that these findings are preliminary and will require following former players over time to prove any links with soccer play and brain health. The Alzheimer’s Association did note that other research shared at the conference “link greater heading exposure and longer soccer careers with biomarkers of neural injury, tau accumulation and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) risk.”

CTE risk for American football players has been studied more extensively. Just this past week, the family of the late Dallas Cowboys player Marshawn Kneeland shared that he was posthumously diagnosed with stage 1 CTE. Kneeland, who died by suicide in 2025, was just 24 years old, suggesting that brain health can be impacted at a much younger age than previously known. I wrote earlier this year about research that found former NFL players with the most advanced form of CTE had a four times increased odds for having dementia.

Understanding the impact that playing sports can have over a person’s lifetime is critical so we can develop safeguards to better protect the health of athletes while not taking away from the excitement of competitive sports.

Reminder: I’m participating in the Smashwords July Summer/Winter sale. Get my books, including the award-winning The Reluctant Caregiver, for half-off the normal price. The sale runs all month long.

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February 1, 2026 · 2:53 pm

Researchers identify CTE as a cause of dementia

Next Sunday, many Americans will watch the Super Bowl to see who will be crowned this NFL season’s champion. I will be watching and thinking of my father, who learned to love American football though soccer and baseball were dear to his heart as well.

There is a dark side to every sport, and in the NFL, the head trauma risk from the hard-hitting game along with diagnostic and research developments have identified an alarming number of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) cases among former players. CTE can cause cognitive symptoms that mirror Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, such as memory loss, personality changes, mood swings, paranoia, and depression. CTE has been found in the brains of high-profile former NFL players who died of suicide, such as Junior Seau.

In a new study published in January 2026, researchers at the Boston University CTE Center studied over 600 donated brains, mostly of contact sport athletes exposed to repetitive head impacts and found those with the most advanced form of CTE had a four times increased odds for having dementia. The study noted that the increased risk amount is “similar to the strength of the relationship between dementia and advanced Alzheimer’s disease pathology, which is the leading cause of dementia.”

In 2023, the Boston University CTE Center found CTE in 345 of the 376 brains of former NFL players that were donated to its brain bank. Researchers cautioned that donated samples are subject to selection biases and because CTE can only be definitively diagnosed after death, it’s impossible at this time to calculate the current prevalence of CTE among NFL players.

The Boston University CTE Center stresses that the most severe symptoms and outcomes are in the minority of cases they see, and that CTE symptoms are treatable. Former players or anyone who has suffered significant and repeated head trauma should seek professional medical care as soon as symptoms emerge.

I’m grateful to the former NFL players and their families for making the generous decision of brain donation to further the research efforts into CTE. Learnings from CTE research could benefit the spectrum of cognitive-based conditions and spur better, more effective treatment options.

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September 28, 2025 · 12:58 pm

Football memories with Dad

Today the NFL played a game in Dublin, Ireland. It made me think about my childhood and watching football with my father. Of course, being from Northern Ireland, my father’s first passion was soccer, which he continued to enjoy watching throughout my childhood. He was fond of listening to the Spanish simulcast, even though Dad didn’t understand Spanish, because of the enthusiasm of the announcer. It may have been Andrés Cantor, because I remember the famous “gooooooal!” call and how my Dad loved to try and mimic it.

The first sport I learned from my father was baseball. We would watch Dodgers games and Dad would remind me that the team was once located in Brooklyn, where he once lived. The timing of the team’s move from East to West Coast was right around the time my father arrived in the US, so I doubt he got to see the team play in Brooklyn but he no doubt learned the team’s lore during his time in the Big Apple.

We did watch American football as well. I mostly remember watching college football with my dad when I was a teenager. Of course my Dad rooted for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Being a teenager, I would choose the opposing team. I remember watching the Colorado-Notre Dame Orange Bowl rivalry, and how it was one of those rare bonding moments with my dad during my adolescence, as were often like passing ships in the night with his work schedule and my school and work schedule.

I also remember watching NFL games with my father. One specific memory is Super Bowl XXV. I’m pretty sure my father was cheering on the Buffalo Bills because of their quarterback Jim Kelly. Dad tended to support anyone with an Irish name. I remember the “wide right” missed kick by Scott Norwood, which cost the Bills the championship and began a heartbreaking string of Super Bowl losses for the team.

I think Dad would have liked seeing a NFL game being played in Ireland. And I think he would have approved of a Steelers win, a team owned by the Rooney family with ties to Ireland.

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